Will Power made a statement in the Verizon IndyCar Series opening race that will resound throughout the season.
Power, driving the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car, won the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg for the second time since 2010. He's also won the past three races bridging seasons, and has led at least 16 laps in the past six races. He has registered 22 victories in 122 Indy car starts, but has yet to win a series championship.
"I'm stoked to get the first win for Verizon as a series sponsor," said Power, who started fourth after earning the pole the previous four years. "That's how you want to start the season. Last year was horrible, and this year it's good to get a points lead."
Power held off Ryan Hunter-Reay, the 2012 driver champion, in a 22-lap sprint following a restart to prevail by 1.9475 seconds. Hunter-Reay overtook Power's teammate, Helio Castroneves, in Turn 1 on Lap 88 for second. Castroneves, a three-time winner on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit and the runner-up in 2013, placed third.
Scott Dixon, the reigning series champion, finished fourth in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car and Simon Pagenaud garnered a top five in the No. 77 Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports car.
Takuma Sato, the pole sitter who led the first 30 laps of the 110-lap race under a cloudless sky, finished one place behind sixth-place Tony Kanaan.
The race was caution-free under the yellow flag flew for the No. 83 Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing car driven by Charlie Kimball sliding off course in Turn 1. On the Lap 82 single-file restart, the cars of Marco Andretti and Jack Hawksworth made contact, bringing out a second full-course caution.
Seven different teams were represented in the top 10.
DAY 3 NOTEBOOK:
Spencer Pigot of Orlando, Fla. won today's Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires race #2 on the Streets of St. Petersburg after winning Saturday's race #1. RC Enerson of New Port Richey, Fla., won today's Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship race #2 at St. Petersburg. Brazil's Victor Franzoni won Saturday's Race #1. Zach Veach won today's St. Petersburg 100 Indy Lights events.
Pro 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 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires.
***
Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti, Sebastien Bourdais, Simon Pagenaud, Charlie Kimball, Graham Rahal and Josef Newgarden have elected to start the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on black primary Firestone Firehawk tires. All other drivers will start on the red alternate Firestone Firehawk tires.
***
Ed Carpenter, the lone team owner/driver in the Verizon IndyCar Series, announced that Preferred Freezer Services will be the primary sponsor of the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing car to be driven by JR Hildebrand in the 98th Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on May 25.
"In our third season, we've been trying to grow and add quality cars," said Carpenter, the 2013 Indianapolis 500 pole winner. "Having a second car with JR will make us that much stronger at Indianapolis. Hopefully this is something we can build on."
Preferred Freezer Services was an associate sponsor for the team's Indianapolis 500 program last year. Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka car is the primary sponsor of the No. 20 Chevrolet-powered car to be driven by Carpenter in oval races and by Mike Conway on the road and street circuits.
"It's an opportunity we're all excited about and proud to have existing partners step up and help us grow," Carpenter said.
Opening Day for practice on the 2.5-mile oval is May 11.
***
James Hinchcliffe, the 2013 race winner, added his commemorative plaque to the Dan Wheldon and Victory Circle monument near Dan Wheldon Way.
"It's huge. It was an emotional win last year for a lot of reasons and to have my name formally up there now to Dan's is pretty special," said Hinchcliffe, who posted his first Verizon IndyCar Series victory at St. Petersburg and added two more during the season. "You can see the sign for Dan Wheldon Way from here and this space is next to the one dedicated to Dan so it's pretty cool."
The monument, located near the Dali Museum, is open to the public.
***
Mark Miles, the CEO of Hulman and Company, the parent of INDYCAR, and Dan Mead, the President and CEO of Verizon Wireless, held a press conference earlier today. Below are selected quotes from the press conference:
MARK MILES: "We love the fact that Verizon has been involved in INDYCAR racing with the Penske team and as the official wireless partner of INDYCAR for four years. These are folks that understand us deeply and have thought carefully about the possibilities of this relationship. That gives us great confidence as we go forward in years ahead. From our perspective, we have the exact same targets in terms of the people we're trying to reach and attract and we have the same agenda. We think Verizon is the perfect partner. I'll say thank you to Dan and thank you to Verizon for how fast they quickly has rallied. They have teams of people here."
DAN MEAD: "This is really important to us. We have a lot of opportunities to sponsor all kinds of sports and music events, and we decided we needed to focus on just a couple of big areas. One of the primary areas of interest for us was our brand the quality of our brand and the quality of the partnership that we have. What we do is try to match brands up. What we've done is match up the NFL and Verizon and the second move was to match up INDYCAR and Verizon. We like the quality of the entertainment for our customers and we've been bringing customers to events for years. We like competition. We're in a extremely competitive industry and we thrive on the competitive environment and we think it's a great match with INDYCAR. We like the activity. We like the competition and we like how close things are. We also think we can help with the devices and technology that we offer. With LTE and all the smartphones and tablets, we can make the racing experience more personal for everyone around the track.
"This is an important race because it's the first race of the season, but it's also important because it's our first race as the title sponsor. It's important to all of our fans. We see a lot of people using our App - INDYCAR 14. People have told us how exciting it is to have us, I'll make a commitment to you. It's our job to help make it more exciting. It's our job to our very best and we'll work hard to do better at the next race moving forward."
***
Through six degrees of separation, A.J. Foyt had a hand in the 2014 Rolex 24 At Daytona victory, and Eddie Cheever Jr. wanted to reward the 1983 and '85 winner of the endurance race. Cheever, the 1998 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race winner, presented Foyt a replica winner's trophy.
The Coyote was a brand of chassis designed and built for use by Foyt's race team in the USAC Championship, and he won 25 times in 141 starts, including the 1967 and '77 Indianapolis 500. In 2007, Cheever purchased the intellectual property rights to the Fabcar chassis and, with Foyt's permission, began using the Coyote name for the Daytona Prototype chassis in honor of the four-time Indy 500 winner.
The race-winning No. 5 Action Express Racing DP co-driven by Sebastien Bourdais, Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi utilized the Coyote Cars chassis for the first victory by a non-Riley chassis since 2004.
"When I asked A.J. to use the name, he said, 'Yeah, that's a good idea. Just don't screw it up,' " said Cheever, an ABC Verizon IndyCar Series analyst who drove for A.J. Foyt Racing in the 1994-95 Indy car seasons. "This is proof we haven't screwed it up and I'm very proud of the fact that Coyote is still in racing and of the teams that I raced for (Foyt's) was the one that my father was most proud of. "Winning the Daytona 24 hours was a great achievement for us. All I did today was close the circle by giving him the winner's trophy."
FIRESTONE 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 Takuma Sato 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 Chevrolet Camaro Safety Car.
•The race leader will accelerate exiting Turn 14 on restarts. All restarts will be single-file.
•There will be no tow-ins or returns from the garage within 15 minutes of the checkered flag
FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG PRE-RACE:
At 3:15 p.m., the ambient temperature was 70 degrees with a relative humidity of 39 percent and winds from the south-southwest at 2 mph. Skies were clear. The track temperature was 111 degrees, according to Firestone engineers.
3:20 p.m. - Charles Claybaker, SSG Retired, gave the command, "Gentlemen, start your engines. All engines have started and the field is rolling on the grid.
FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG RACE RUNNING:
Lap 1: GREEN. St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman waves the green flag and #14 Sato leads the field into Turn 1. #28 Hunter-Reay passes #10 Kanaan for second place entering Turn 1.
***
Takuma Sato is the 10th St. Petersburg pole winner to lead the first lap in 11 races. Only 2009 pole winner Graham Rahal failed to lead the opening lap. He last led at Houston-1 in 2013.
***
Lap 5: #14 Sato leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 1.5530 seconds.
Lap 10: #14 Sato leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 1.2770 seconds.
Lap 12: #11 Bourdais on pit road for four black tires and new nosecone.
Lap 14: #7 Aleshin and #27 Hinchcliffe on pit road for four tires and fuel. #27 Hinchcliffe takes red tires.
Lap 15: #14 Sato leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 3.2312 seconds. #77 Pagenaud, #2 Montoya and #67 Newgarden on pit road for four red tires and fuel.
Lap 19: #83 Kimball, #19 Wilson, #20 Conway on pit road for four red tires and fuel.
Lap 20: #14 Sato leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 3.9641 seconds. #25 Andretti on pit road for four red tires and fuel.
Lap 21: #98Hawksworth on pit road for four tires and fuel. Stop was slow due to car dropping on jacks.
Lap 22: #12 Power on pit road for four black tires and fuel.
Lap 23: #14 Sato leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 5.1495 seconds.
Lap 25: #14 Sato leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 5.3170 seconds.
Lap 26: #9 Dixon and #28 Hunter-Reay on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 27: Leader #14 Sato on pit road and #10 Kanaan on pit road for four tires and fuel. Lead change: New leader is #3 Castroneves.
Lap 28: Leader #3 Castroneves on pit road for four tires and fuel. #27 Hinchcliffe slows on course in Turn 2. Lead Change: New leader on course is #14 Sato.
Lap 30: Green flag stops complete, #14 Sato leads #12 Power by .1695 of a second.
Lap 31: Lead change, #12 Power passes #14 Sato for the lead in Turn 2.
***
This is the fifth-straight race at St. Petersburg that Will Power has led.
***
Lap 33: #12 Power leads #14 Sato by 2.9430 seconds. #3 Castroneves is third.
Lap 35: #12 Power leads #14 Sato by 3.5619 seconds.
Lap 37: #12 Power leads #14 Sato by 3.2417 seconds.
Lap 40: #12 Power leads #14 Sato by 3.8198 seconds.
Lap 41: #2 Montoya on pit road for four black tires and fuel.
Lap 43: #15 Rahal and #11 Bourdais on pit road for four tires and fuel. #12 Power leads #14 Sato by 5.8750 seconds.
Lap 45: #77 Pagenaud on pit road for four tires and fuel. #12 Power leads #14 Sato by 7.996 seconds.
Lap 50: #12 Power leads #14 Sato by 10.50792 seconds.#19 Wilson on pit road for four black tires and fuel.
Lap 52: Leader, #12 Power on pit road for four tires and fuel. Lead change: New leader is #14 Sato.
Lap 53: #14 Sato leads #3 Castroneves by .4596 of a second.
Lap 54: #3 Castroneves, #10 Kanaan and #28 Hunter-Reay on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 55: #14 Sato leads #12 Power by 10.4531 seconds. #9 Dixon on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 58: Leader #14 Sato on pit road for four black tires and fuel. Lead change: New leader is #12 Power.
Lap 60: #12 Power leads #3 Castroneves by 9.1686 seconds.
Lap 63: #12 Power leads #3 Castroneves by 8.6449 seconds.
Lap 66: #12 Power leads #3 Castroneves by 6.4282 seconds. #20 Conway is third, 15.5 seconds behind the leader.
Lap 70: #12 Power leads #3 Castroneves by 5.3633 seconds.
Lap 71: #2 Montoya on pit road for four tires and fuel and wing adjustments.
Lap 72: #15 Rahal and #83 Kimball on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 73: #12 Power leads #3 Castroneves by 2.6550 seconds.
Lap 76: FULL COURSE YELLOW. #83 Kimball is off course in Turn 2 after light contact with the tires. Pits are closed. Leaders under caution are: #12 Power, #3 Castroneves, #20 Conway, #28 Hunter-Reay, #14 Sato.
Lap 77: All lead lap cars are on pit road for four tires and fuel except #20 Conway. Lead change: New leader is #20 Conway. #12 Power wins the race off pit road followed by #3 Castroneves, #28 Hunter-Reay, #9 Dixon, #10 Kanaan.
Lap 78: Leader, #20 Conway, on pit road for four tires and fuel. Lead change: New leader is #12 Power.
Lap 80: #2 Montoya and #83 Kimball on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 82: GREEN. #12 Power leads the field into Turn 1. Behind, #98 Hawksworth spins as field bunches up behind the leader, and collects #25 Andretti.
Lap 83: FULL COURSE YELLOW. #25 Andretti climbs from his car without assistance without assistance from the Holmatro Safety Team and walks back to the pit lane. #98 Hawksworth rejoins with damage after assistance from Holmatro Safety Team.
***
MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 25 Snapple Honda): "): "Yeah it's hard to see because I was pretty far back, but Will just stopped. Once you go, you gotta go. It was a bit of an accordion effect, and I just got caught up. That's what happens when you're in the back, so I've really got no one to blame but myself." (About the comment that the flag man allegedly waved the green flag early): "That's why you don't have an acceleration cone. I'm not complaining, but the leader should dictate it. He probably questioned himself because he might have gotten penalized or something, but you should penalize the leader, he can go when he wants."
***
Lap 87: GREEN. #12 Power leads the field into Turn 1.
Lap 88: #28 Hunter-Reay passes #3 Castroneves for second in Turn 1.
***
INDYCAR officials have penalized #18 Huertas with a drive-through penalty for taking full service in a closed pit. #20 Conway with a drive-through penalty for passing the pace car and #11 Bourdais with a drive-through penalty for failing to pack-up under caution.
***
Lap 90: #12 Power leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 1.3628 seconds.
***
#12 Power has clinched the two bonus points for leading the most laps in today's race.
Lap 92: #12 Power leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 1.1513 seconds.
Lap 95: #12 Power leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 1.8817 seconds.
Lap 98: #12 Power leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 1.6168 seconds. Castroneves is third, 4.5 seconds behind the leader.
Lap 100: #12 Power leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 1.8317 seconds.
Lap 103: #12 Power leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 2.5424 seconds.
Lap 105: #12 Power leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 2.3521 seconds.
Lap 107: #12 Power leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 2.1248 seconds.
Lap 109: WHITE. #12 Power leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 1.8866 seconds.
Lap 110: CHECKERED. #12 Will Power wins the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg by 1.9475 seconds over #28 Ryan Hunter-Reay.
FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG POST-RACE NOTES
• Will Power won his first race of 2014 and the 22nd race of his Indy car career. He has won the last three Indy car races after winning at Houston-2 and Auto Club Speedway in 2013.
• It is Power's second win at St. Petersburg, winning here in 2010
• Ryan Hunter-Reay finished second -matching his best finish at St. Petersburg (2009).
• Helio Castroneves finished third, his third-straight podium finish here in St. Petersburg, after winning in 2012, finishing
• Scott Dixon finished fourth, his fifth top-five finish in 10 starts at St. Petersburg.
• Simon Pagenaud finished fifth, his first top-five finish in three starts at St. Petersburg.
