Jack Hawksworth wins debut Firestone Indy Lights at St. Petersburg

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March 24, 2013 in Motorsport

Jack Hawksworth wins debut Firestone Indy Lights at St. Petersburg

ST PETERSBURG 100 RACE RUNNINGAt 3:30 p.m., the ambient temperature was 74 degrees with a relative humidity of 87 percent. Skies were mostly cloudy. The track temperature was 104 degrees, according to Firestone engineers.3:39 p.m. - St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster gave the command, "Drivers, start your engines." All nine cars on the grid have fired.Lap 1: GREEN. #26 Munoz leads the field into Turn 1. #22 Ringel pits. Initial start is waved off. YELLOW.Lap 2: GREEN. #26 Munoz leads the field into Turn 1. #7 Chaves makes bid for the lead in Turn 1 and takes the lead.Lap 5: #7 Chaves leads #5 Dempsey by .8449 of a second.Lap 6: #26 Munoz and #77 Hawksworth pass #5 Dempsey for second and third, respectively.Lap 9: #7 Chaves leads .3729

Lap 11: #26 Munoz makes bid for the lead and makes contact with leader #7 Chaves. Both cars spin in Turn 1. #26 Munoz continues. #7 Chaves is stopped on course and has climbed from his car without assistance. FULL COURSE YELLOW. Leader under caution are: #77 Hawksworth, #5 Dempsey, #8 Karam, #26 Munoz and #12 Veach.Lap 14: GREEN. #77 Hawksworth leads the field into Turn 1. Firestone Indy Lights official have penalized #26 Munoz with a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact for Lap 11 incident.Lap 19: #77 Hawksworth leads #5 Dempsey by 1.0449 seconds.Lap 23: #77 Hawksworth leads #5 Dempsey by 1.0301 seconds.Lap 26: #77 Hawksworth leads #5 Dempsey by 1.0647 seconds.Lap 29: #77 Hawksworth leads #5 Dempsey by 1.6703 seconds.Lap 32: #77 Hawksworth leads #5 Dempsey by 1.6703 seconds.***ETHAN RINGEL (No. 22 TMR-Xtreme Drilling & Coil Service): "I need the experience in the car, first of all. I had one test session before this race and I wasn't fully prepared. The most frustrating thing is the gearbox, we were having problems at Homestead, I couldn't even shift down the car. We waited until Practice 2 to switch out the gearbox and in qualifying we were still having a bit of a problem shifting the car out of second, and they didn't fix the issue. I was able to feel it on the warm-up lap."GABBY CHAVES (No. 7 Schmidt Peterson c/w Curb-Agajanian): "I was really happy with the way things were going. I was leading the race for a bit. I'm really happy with the car and the team. We just had a little bit of bad luck to start, but I'm sure we'll get around it.***Lap 36: #12 Veach, battling for third, spins.Lap 38: #77 Hawksworth leads #5 Dempsey by 3.3600 seconds.Lap 42: #77 Hawksworth leads #5 Dempsey by 4.3177 seconds.Lap 44: WHITE: #77 Hawksworth leads #5 Dempsey by 4.6533 seconds.Lap 45: CHECKERED: #77 Hawksworth wins St. Petersburg 100 by 4.0973.ST. PETERSBURG 100 POST-RACE NOTES: This is Jack Hawksworth's first Firestone Indy Lights victory. He is the 11th driver to win his debut race in the series and the seventh who has won his debut at St. Petersburg, joining Marco Andretti, Raphael Matos, Junior Strous, J.K. Vernay and Josef Newgarden and Tristan Vautier. This is Schmidt Peterson with Curb-Agajanian's fourth consecutive win on the streets of St. Petersburg. Peter Dempsey finished second, matching his career-best finish in Firestone Indy Lights and his best finish at St. Pete. He finished third here in 2011. Sage Karam finished third in his first race in Firestone Indy Lights.ST. PETERSBURG 100 POST-RACE QUOTES:JACK HAWKSWORTH (No. 77 Schmidt Peterson c/w Curb-Agajanian, winner St. Petersburg 100): "I'm so fortunate to be with these guys and working with such a great team. They've helped me develop over the winter and today I nearly scooted off on the first corner and they gave me a really, really good car. What a great way to start the season." (Did you ever think you might not make it to FIL this season?): "I never thought too far ahead, I wanted to focus on each race last year and that's the same this year. We've got to go out there and win each race, this one's over and now we've got to go out to Barber and try to win that now. We've got to concentrate on the job you're doing. When you're with such a good team the expectation is to win. Second or third isn't on the table. You've got to make the most of your equipment, go win races and thankfully we've been able to do that today."PETER DEMPSEY (No. 5 Belardi Auto Racing, finished second): "It feels great you know, owe it to Belardi Auto Racing and Brian Belardi for giving me the opportunity to be here. Glad to bring the car home today because we are fighting for a championship. Congrats to Jack. The car was good all race, I was happy with the Firestone tires. I think they were better on the longer run. Started off the season in 2nd place, I'm not going to complain." (About best finish for Belardi in FIL) "We are not satisfied with 2nd so we aren't going to be happy until we get that first win. But for sure, it's definitely a good starting point and if we keep building on this I think we are going to be in the hunt."SAGE KARAM (No. 8 Schmidt Peterson c/w Curb-Agajanian, finished third): "This is what we came here for. Try to get good points and make it to the podium and that's exactly what we did. I can't thank the Schmidt Peterson crew enough. They really put the car dialed in there for a good race car. We just got to figure out a little bit more speed on new tires and we can be up there with them." (Being a part of Schmidt Peterson): "They are by far the most successful team in Indy Lights, so it was a no brainer to come to Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. I mean, they won the last three titles so, like I said, it's a no brainer. I'm going to give them my best, and I know for sure they are going to give me theres."JUAN PABLO GARCIA (No. 2 TMR-International-Euclid Chemical, finished fourth): "I'm very happy to get this fourth place. It's my first top-five of this season. I'm happy to start like this. My car was really oversteering. It was very loose from the beginning and it was very hard to the pace. There were some times that I thought I was going to lose the car because it was so sideways."ZACH VEACH (No.12 K-12/Andretti Autosport, finished fifth): "Overall, I think it was a good weekend for out first time out. It was fun battling with my ex-teammate (Sage Karam). That is something I wanted to do for a while. I just got a little carried away with the tires. We know what we have to do different and show show up at Barber. Hopefully we move up a few more places in the grid."SUNDAY'S SCHEDULE (all times local):

6 a.m.

Garages open

8:45- 9:15 a.m.

IZOD IndyCar Series warmup

11:50 a.m.

Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg pre-race

12:40 p.m.

Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (110 laps/198 miles), NBC Sports Network (Live).

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Results Saturday of the St Petersburg 100 Firestone Indy Lights event on the 1.8 mile St Petersburg Street Circuit, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (2) Jack Hawksworth, 45, Running

2. (3) Peter Dempsey, 45, Running

3. (6) Sage Karam, 45, Running

4. (7) Juan Pablo Garcia, 45, Running

5. (5) Zach Veach, 45, Running

6. (8) Jorge Goncalvez, 45, Running

7. (1) Carlos Munoz, 43, Mechanical

8. (4) Gabby Chaves, 10, Contact

9. (9) Ethan Ringel, 0, Mechanical

Race Statistics

Winners average speed: 89.833

Time of Race: 00:54:06.0120