Drama punctuated the Honda Indy Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season opener.The reigning IZOD IndyCar Series champion opened the season in 18th place. The Verizon P1 Award winner and 2012 championship runner-up wound up 16th. The four-time series title-holder exited early in the race because of contact.In the end, James Hinchcliffe scored his first win on the 1.8-mile temporary street circuit by holding off Helio Castroneves over the final 26 laps.The 26-year-old Canadian overtook Castroneves in Turn 1 of a Lap 85 restart, conserved fuel in the No. 27 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet for Andretti Autosport and held on for a 1.0982-second victory.He's the first Canadian to win an Indy car race since Paul Tracy in 2007 at Cleveland and gave Michael Andretti his 44th Indy car victory (two more than he had as a driver).Castroneves, the 2012 race winner, was second and Marco Andretti overtook Simona de Silvestro in Turn 1 of the final lap to earn third place (his best road/street course finish since Toronto in 2011).Will Power, who earned his 30th Indy car pole, led 26 laps before Castroneves made an inside move on a restart and it went downhill from there. Under caution, the No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing car driven by JR Hildebrand sprung over the right side of Power's No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car, causing a flat rear tire and bent mirror. The team spent two pit stops to repair and check for damage. Then, while running 12th, the rear end of Power's car caught the Turn 4 tire barrier. He finished 16th.Ryan Hunter-Reay, who started and finished third at St. Pete last March on his journey to the series title, encountered issues on an early pit stop and was not in contention.DAY 2 NOTEBOOK:Matthew Brabham of Boca Raton, Fla. won Saturday's Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires race #1 on the Streets of St. Petersburg. Brabham charged from eighth on the grid to claim his second consecutive win. He also won the second race at the Circuit of the Americas on March 2. Race #2 is slated for 3 p.m. todayCanada's Scott Hargrove and Scott Rettich of Camden, Ohio  were the Championship Class and National Class winners, respectively, in the Saturday's Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship race #1 at St. Petersburg. Race #2 is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. todayPro Mazda is the middle level of the Mazda Road to Indy ladder system that leads to the IZOD IndyCar Series. The entry level is the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda; the top level is Firestone Indy Lights.***The unlikely pairing racing legend A.J. Foyt and Takuma Sato could been seen as a cross-cultural blend of steak and sushi, Kit Kats and kabuki. Early on, though, Sato doesn't see a communication gap."I don't think we have a problem of 'Lost in Translation.' Yes, the team is based in Houston, Texas, and I come from Japan but we all communicate very well," Sato said.In fact, early March 23 in the team transporter, Foyt took up Sato on his offer of the services of Dr. Take Komatsu, who practices acupuncture, to potentially relieve the pain of sciatica that caused Foyt to miss last week's Open Test at Barber Motorsports Park.Foyt said he felt better after the treatment, and his mood brightened considerably later in the day when Sato qualified second in the No. 14 ABC Supply car for the season-opening Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg."We tested with Takuma, we know he's fast, he's been fast with other people so we just want to give him the best car we can," Foyt said. "We're proud of what he did today. It was pretty good."Added Sato: "I think I made him smile today and I hope he continues to smile (during and after the race)."***Scott Hargrove of Vancouver, Canada and Scott Rettich of Camden, Ohio were the Championship Class and National Class winners, respectively, in the today's Peninsula Pipeline Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the second of two Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship races. Both drivers also claimed wins in Saturday's Race #1. Hargrove has won three of the four USF2000 Championship Class races. Rettich has won all four National Class races.***HONDA GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG RACE SPECIFICS:The race is 110 laps, 198 miles on the 14-turn, 1.8-mile street course.The race will become a timed race of two hours if there are wet conditions.The pit road speed limit is 50 mph.Pole sitter Will Power will grid drivers' right.The green flag to start the race will be show the third time by the start-finish line.Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford will drive the Honda Civic SI Safety Car.The race leader will accelerate exiting Turn 14 on restarts.There will be no tow-ins or returns from the garage within 15 minutes of the checkered flagHONDA GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG PRE-RACE:At 12:30 p.m., the ambient temperature was 76 degrees with a relative humidity of 54 percent. Skies were cloudy. The track temperature was 87 degrees, according to Firestone engineers.12:33 p.m. - Army veteran and Grand Marshal Charlie Lemon representing Wish for Heroes gave the command "Drivers, Start Your Engines." All 25 cars have started and are rolling on the grid.HONDA GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG RACE RUNNING:Lap 1: GREEN. Susie Wheldon, wife of Dan Wheldon, waves the green flag. #12 Power leads the field into Turn 1. #27 Hinchcliffe and #3 Castroneves get around #78 de Silvestro in Turn 1.Lap 3: #12 Power leads #14 Sato by 2.3730 seconds.Lap 5: #12 Power leads #14 Sato by 2.9914 seconds.Lap 8: #12 Power leads #14 Sato by 4.0232 seconds.Lap 10: #12 Power leads #14 Sato by 4.6926 seconds.Lap 12: #98 Tagliani pits for four black tires and fuel.Lap 13: #12 Power leads #14 Sato by 6.3284 seconds.Lap 14: #77 Pagenaud and #19 Wilson on pit road for four tires and fuel.  Wilson takes blacks. Pagenaud takes redsLap 15: #5 Viso and #18 Beatriz on pit road for four tires and fuel. Viso takes reds, Beatriz takes blacks.Lap 16: #12 Power leads #14 Sato by 8.9964 seconds.Lap 17: #9 Dixon on pit road for four red tires and fuel.Lap 18: #12 Power leads #14 Sato by 11.0290 seconds. #10 Franchitti and #6 Saavedra on pit lane for four tires and fuel.Lap 19: #10 Franchitti makes contact with the wall in Turn 4. FULL COURSE YELLOW. Several cars on pit road for four tires and fuel.Lap 20: Leaders on pit road for four tires and fuel. #12 Power wins race off of pit road followed by #3 Castroneves, #14 Sato, #27 Hinchcliffe and #78 de Silvestro.***Dario Franchitti retired from an IZOD IndyCar Series race for only the fifth time in the last 67 races with his retirement from today's event due to contact.***Lap 26: GREEN: #12 Power leads field into Turn 1. #3 Castroneves takes the lead Turn 2. There is a multi-car incident in Turn 9. Cars involved are: #83 Kimball, #18 Beatriz, #4 Hildebrand, #20 Carpenter and #22 Servia. All cars but Beatriz continued on coruse. #4 Hildebrand spins in Turn 10 after contact with #6 Saavedra. FULL COURSE YELLOW. #77 Pagenaud on pit lane and has retired from the event.***Simon Pagenaud has retired from the event with a mechanical issue - exhaust system. It is his first DNF as an IZOD IndyCar Series competitor.***Lap 32: GREEN. #3 Castroneves leads the field into Turn 1. #27 Hinchcliffe around Power for second place.Lap 35: #3 Castroneves leads #27 Hinchcliffe by .7066 of a second.Lap 37: #3 Castroneves leads #27 Hinchcliffe by .6360 of a second.Lap 40: #3 Castroneves leads #27 Hinchcliffe by .9296 of a second.Lap 43: #3 Castroneves leads #27 Hinchcliffe by 1.3567 seconds.Lap 44: #98 Tagliani on pit road for service.Lap 45: FULL COURSE YELLOW. Debris in Turn 14. Leaders under caution are 3, 27, 12, 78 and 55. Lead cars on pit road for four tires and fuel. #3 Castroneves wins the race off of pit road followed by #12 Power and #27 Hinchcliffe. #22 Servia, who did not pit beats #3 Castroneves to the blend line and assumes the lead of the race.***DARIO FRANCHITTI (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda): "We've really struggled with the Target car this weekend.  I was trying to make up for it somewhere on the track and I just stepped over the line there on cold tires.  I hit a bump in Turn 3, and with the ride height being so low with the tires pressures I just got in the marbles and in the wall.  It was totally my mistake."***Oriol Servia is leading his first laps in the IZOD IndyCar Series event since the 2011 Indianapolis 500.***Lap 51: Under caution, #67 Newgarden has stopped on course. Crew reports that car has a clutch issue.Lap 55: GREEN. #22 Servia leads the field into Turn 1. #83 Kimball on pit road to replace the nosecone and front wing.Lap 57: #22 Servia leads #3 Castroneves by .4341 of a second.***#67 Newgarden and #18 Beatriz have retired from the event with mechanical issues.***Lap 60: #22 Servia leads #3 Castroneves by .5047 of a second.Lap 62: Leader, #22 Servia on pit road for four red tires and fuel. Car has trouble leaving the pit box. New leader is #3 Castroneves.Lap 64: #1 Hunter-Reay is off pace with a throttle issue. #15 Rahal makes contact with #1 car at Turn 10.Lap 66: #3 Castroneves leads #27 Hinchcliffe by 1.6412 seconds.Lap 68: #3 Castroneves leads #27 Hinchcliffe by 2.4366 seconds.Lap 69: #55 Vautier on pit road for four tires and fuel. Crew has removed the engine cover.Lap 72: #3 Castroneves leads #27 Hinchcliffe by 4.0397 seconds.***#55 Vautier has retired from the race with a mechanical issue.***Lap 74: FULL COURSE YELLOW. #6 Saavedra makes contact with the tire barrier in Turn 10. Leaders under caution are: #3 Castroneves, #27 Hinchcliffe, #12 Power, #78 de Silvestro and #11 Kanaan.Lap 75: Leaders on pit road for four tires and fuel. #3 Castroneves wins race off pit road followed by Hinchcliffe, #12 Power, #78 De Silvestro and #9 Dixon.Lap 80: Under caution, #4 Hildebrand makes contact with the wall and #12 Power at Turn 9A.Lap 81: #12 Power on pit road to repair damage, replace right rear tire and repair right mirror.Lap 82: #12 Power back on pit road for additional repairs.Lap 85: GREEN. #3 Castroneves leads the field into Turn 1. #3 Castroneves runs wide in Turn 1 and #27 Hinchcliffe makes a pass for the lead.Lap 88: #27 Hinchcliffe leads #3 Castroneves by .3683 of a second.Lap 90: #27 Hinchcliffe leads #3 Castroneves by .6111 of a second.***JR HILDEBRAND (No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing Chevrolet): "I was just getting ready for the restart and talking to the team while dialing my knobs back and the field checked up in front of me. It was totally my fault and I feel super sorry for Will and Team Penske. The National Guard guys gave me a great racecar today and I hate that it ended this way.***Lap 93: #27 Hinchcliffe leads #3 Castroneves by .4326 of a second.Lap 96: #27 Hinchcliffe leads #3 Castroneves by .4191 of a second.Lap 99: #27 Hinchcliffe leads #3 Castroneves by .2807 of a second.Lap 101: #27 Hinchcliffe leads #3 Castroneves by .5609 of a second.Lap 103: #27 Hinchcliffe leads #3 Castroneves by .5151 of a second.Lap 105: #27 Hinchcliffe leads #3 Castroneves by .4862 of a second.Lap 107: #27 Hinchcliffe leads #3 Castroneves by .7512 of a second.Lap 109: #78 De Silvestro runs wide at Turn 14 #25 Andretti and #11 Kanaan get past. WHITE: #27 Hinchcliffe leads #3 Castroneves by .9678 of a second. #Lap 110: CHECKERED. #27 Hinchcliffe wins the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg by 1.0982 seconds over #3 Castroneves.HONDA GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG POST-RACE NOTES:         This is James Hinchcliffe's first IZOD IndyCar Series win. He is the first Canadian Indy car race winner since Paul Tracy won at Cleveland in June 2007.         Hinchcliffe is the 207th driver to win an Indy car race and the second driver to win his first race at St. Petersburg, joining Graham Rahal who won here in 2008.         This is Andretti Autosport's second win at St. Petersburg. It also won with Dan Wheldon in 2005.         Helio Castroneves finished second. It is his second runner-up finish in St. Petersburg and fifth podium finish at St. Petersburg,         Marco Andretti finished third. It is best finish at St. Petersburg in eight starts. His previous best was fourth in 2007.IZOD INDYCAR SERIES POINT STANDINGSHinchcliffe      51Castroneves     43Andretti           35Kanaan            32Dixon             30De Silvestro     28Viso     27Sato     24Wilson            22Tagliani20DAY 3 - SUNDAY, MARCH 24, 2013Page 6IZOD INDYCAR SERIES MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIPChevrolet         9Honda  6HONDA GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG POST-RACE QUOTES:

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 27 GoDaddy Chevrolet, winner Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg): "First of thanks to everyone. Thanks to the fans. This race is so awesome. The people in this town are incredible. I'm glad we can open up our season here. Man, that was a tough race. Last year we qualified fourth, finished fourth. Qualified fourth again and I thought that was kind of our cursed number there for a bit and then the big thing that people were saying early on in the season is 'What is it going to take to win?' And the big thing was minimizing mistakes.. We had a good car. Not sure if we had the fastest car over a lap but I'll tell you what, we nailed the pit stops. The guys were so good. The GoDaddy car was really good on those black tires. That last restart, man, Helio Castroneves there..he's a three-time winner at this race. He's on the reds. He makes a mistake. I get by, but I'm thinking, 'He has 30 laps to get this back." And we were saving a bit of fuel, trying to save the tires and I just can't be happier. It is so awesome. Dan's hometown. Dan's car. This one's for him." HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, finished second): "The Hitachi car was awesome. It was everything by the book. It was running. It was the one to watch and it was pretty good. I was just making sure that I could protect. I knew Hinch (James Hinchcliffe) was really good. Especially in the Mickey Mouse section,  as I call it. He was very strong there. As long as I was in front of him, it was going to be fine. Maybe I didn't warm up my tires enough. Just a small mistake. I guess the old dogs still make mistakes. Still have a lot to learn. Great effort by the Hitachi guys, incredible car. And good job Hinch. Congrats!"MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 25 RC Cola Chevrolet, finished third): "Congratulations to James (Hinchcliffe) first and foremost. For me, this feels like a win for the struggles I have been having and all I can say is that it feels great to have the hard work pay off, for sure." (How big for the team?) "It's a good start. Looks like we are going to have to beat him this year."SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda): "The Target car was generally pretty good. We were just trying to get good fuel mileage and look after the tires. The yellows didn't really fall our way today. We went a little bit off sequence there at the end but what killed us was the left waste gate on the turbo broke, so I had no boost.  I was just getting killed on straight-line speed and they just all got past me on the final restarts."ANA BEATRIZ (No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda): "It wasn't the start to the season that we would have liked it to be, but I think we can take many positives out of this race and put them towards our next one. I'm not in the car again for five weeks until Brazil, but I think we will have a better outcome then we did today."CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Honda): "It was a hard-fought race all the way through.  I give a lot of credit to the No. 83 guys in the pits.  They put a new wing on the car when I needed it.  The strategy was right; it was just a question of having to come from too far back at certain points.  The pace is certainly there, we were quick when we needed to be.  We have to find that balance but we'll be in good shape come Barber."JUSTIN WILSON (No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda): "We had a pretty good race.  The Sonny's Bar-B-Q Honda team called some good strategy and we managed to keep picking our way up there and making improvements.  It was frustrating to lose a couple of spots right at the end - I seemed to get knocked around a little bit and be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  It's good to get a top 10, but we want to be up there challenging for the win, so we'll focus on what we can do better next time and try to make a step forward at Barber."RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 1 DHL Chevrolet): "It wasn't a great day. We couldn't get our car into first gear on a pit stop for whatever reason. I don't know if that had anything to do with the stuck throttle that we ended up having, but that's what sidelined us in the end. I've heard some other guys have been having that issue so everyone is scratching their head right now, and trust me, on a street course it's not the thing you want - it's pretty scary to have one. That's racing. You can be on the highest high and then next weekend you can be on the lowest low. We just have to ride it and we'll come out swinging next week; it's all a part of it. It's a great win for James Hinchcliffe and Andretti Autosport.E.J. VISO (No. 5 Team Venezuela /Andretti Autosport/HVM Chevrolet): "I am extremely happy finishing seventh after a very difficult beginning of the weekend with so many mechanical issues in the practice and qualifying. It's been tough to survive and make it to here, but the team did a great job to get me a very competitive car and give me all the tools to stay battling in the field. I'm feeling good about this year; I think we will be able to achieve good positions. Congratulations to my teammate, James, on his first win in the IZOD IndyCar Series.ED CARPENTER (No. 20 Fuzzy's Vodka/Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet): "It was a survival today.  We had a busted front wing and it took us awhile to figure it out.  So we ran most of the race with a broken front flat (of the wing). It was tough to hang onto.  When we replaced the front wing late in the race, the Fuzzy's Chevrolet was much better.  I think we got up to tenth at one point.  But our red Firestones were pretty worn out by then.  In fact, we ran many more laps with them than we would in a normal stint. But the race was improvement for our ECR/Fuzzy's team.  It was not pretty but we survived to the finish.  Way better than last year here when we finished a couple of laps down due to some contact. It was a great day for Team Chevy and to have (James) Hinch (cliffe) get his first IndyCar win.  Team Chevy swept the podium and the weekend that is very cool."     SIMONA de SILVESTRO (No. 78 Nuclear Entergy Areva KVRT Chevrolet): "It's been a good weekend for us. Unfortunately we lost a few positions at the end there. We kind of ran out of tires at the end. I think we can be pretty happy with sixth. Now we know what we have to work on for the next race. It was really cool to be up front all day with Will, Hinch and everybody; it was awesome. I think we can learn a lot from this weekend to have a better result at the next race. I really want to thank Chevy and my Nuclear Clean Air Energy sponsors for all their support. I'm really excited to get to Barber and see what we can do there."WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): "Yeah, that's a tough finish for us in 16th. It's too bad because the Verizon car was definitely fast. (On the incident with JR Hildebrand) He came over and apologized after the race. He said he was just looking down at his steering wheel and he just ran over the top of me. It's just a mistake but that happens in racing. Then I made another mistake there at the end and it cost us four more places. Tough day but we just have to move forward and look ahead to Barber."TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Hydroxycut KVRT-SH Racing Chevrolet): "It's definitely a good start of the season for everyone at KV Racing, finishing fourth and sixth. My car was flawless while on track, the only problem we had during the race was that I couldn't shift into neutral during my last stop. That cost me three spots on track and made me work a bit more for this fourth place finish. I was impressed that my last set of scuffed red Firestones lasted that long and I can't say enough about my Chevy engine. It's unfortunate that Simona couldn't hold off that third place, she was running strong up front until she had no more tires. She deserved the podium. I guess Marco had a newer set of Firestones than both Simona and I, so it was a matter of time for him to get by us."TAKUMA SATO (No. 14 ABC Supply A.J. Foyt Racing Honda): "It was a tough race right at the beginning, we clipped a front wing on the second restart so we had a damaged car most of the race. Before we changed the front wing we were as far down as 15th.  We picked up some pace and were able to overtake a few cars on the track so that was encouraging. There are quite a few things we need to look at but we fought hard today and  I want to thank the ABC Supply team for their hard work!"SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS (No. 7 Dragon Racing Chevrolet): "We've been fighting car behavior and brake balance - front to rear and left to right evolving runs and massively I really don't know what is going on, but every time the brakes start to stabilize, the car comes back to life. I've just been fighting a ghost that moves around in the car. It makes it difficult on the restarts because never know what you are going to get. It's the hardest 11th place I've ever had to fight for."TRISTAN VAUTIER (No. 55 Florida Lottery c/w Schmidt Peterson Honda): "I feel good. We had a great weekend. We made some progress and were right in there during the race. Schmidt Peterson Motorsports gave me a great car. It was very good on tires, so we could be very consistent. It is just a shame I was having a lot of fun running with the other guys and wish I was still out there."GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 15 Midas / Big O Tires Honda): "Frankly I am pretty pleased with how the Midas/Big O Tires car handled. Gerry (Hughes) and all of the guys did a great job getting the car in good running order and it definitely felt good. Unfortunately, we had some electrical issues; the car kept shutting off five or six times. Then we had a high fuel pressure issue that meant we couldn't run full power. We had to run conservatively because we couldn't ask the car for all of the fuel because it kept shutting off. I'm pretty disappointed that happened; we need to improve on that side but the guys did a good job. They were certainly on it. After the start to the weekend that we had, it felt good to be that competitive in the race."JAMES JAKES (No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts Honda):  "It was a difficult race for us. We were involved in an incident at the beginning when someone hit us from behind and it put us to the back. Then we managed to crawl our way to the front with a fuel strategy gamble and got up to sixth but then had to pit for fuel to finish the race and it put us out of sync.  And I think we also we chose the wrong tire for the final stint so we were struggling but we finished 15th, got some points and will move on. Someone told me the average finishing position of the champion last year was ninth so if you look at that everything is not lost. We just need to make some small improvements with the Acorn Stairlifts car. I appreciate all the effort from the team and I'm looking forward to racing in Alabama."ORIOL SERVIA (No. 22 Panther DRR Chevrolet): "At least we showed what we've been saying, the team has improved so much over the winter. We showed we had the pace. First we had bad luck, there was a crash in front of us and I broke the front wing.  We were on a different strategy after that, but it gave us the lead. The car was great; I was really happy to be able to maintain and to keep that gap in front of  Castroneves, Power, and Hinchcliffe. I think the race was going to play out in a way that would have had us finish in the top five the way we were running. It was unfortunate - we came into the pits, the clutch wouldn't disengage and we lost several laps fixing the problem. However, I am still very happy with how we ran today."