Home  
Site Partners: SpotterGuides Veloce Books  
Related Sites: Your Link Here  

Go Back   TenTenths Motorsport Forum > Single Seater Racing > Indycar Series

 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Prev Previous Post   Next Post Next
Old 7 Mar 2018, 00:40 (Ref:3806401)   #1
bjohnsonsmith
Race Official
20KPINAL
 
bjohnsonsmith's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
United States
London, England
Posts: 23,144
bjohnsonsmith is the undisputed Champion of the World!bjohnsonsmith is the undisputed Champion of the World!bjohnsonsmith is the undisputed Champion of the World!bjohnsonsmith is the undisputed Champion of the World!bjohnsonsmith is the undisputed Champion of the World!bjohnsonsmith is the undisputed Champion of the World!bjohnsonsmith is the undisputed Champion of the World!bjohnsonsmith is the undisputed Champion of the World!bjohnsonsmith is the undisputed Champion of the World!bjohnsonsmith is the undisputed Champion of the World!bjohnsonsmith is the undisputed Champion of the World!
2018 Round 1: Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, 9-11 March.

2018 Round 1: Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, 9-11 March.

The waiting and the long off season are almost over, as this Sunday's 2018 season opener at St. Pete is nearly upon us.

Three year's ago, saw the introduction of aero-kits from the two engine manufacturers, Chevrolet and Honda. The idea was to produce some visual variation and brand identity for both manufacturers, in what is a spec car. Chevrolet produced the dominant package, winning the Driver's Championship and Manufacturer's Cup from 2015 - 2017, though Honda won the Indy 500 in 2016 and '17.

This year will see the Univeral Aero-Kit make its race debut. A lot of praise has been heaped on the new aero-kit by drivers, teams and fans. For the drivers, the car is more challenging to drive, for teams it is much cheaper and for fans it is visually appealing, with the appearance similar to the cars that raced before the split. Obviously, there is much anticipation and it will be interesting to see if it will live up to its expectations.

This will be the 15th running of the race on the current course and the 14th as an IndyCar race. The event was first held as part of the SCCA Trans-Am Series, on the downtown waterfront circuit, from 1985-1990 but when local residents and businesses complained about the noise it was cancelled. It returned briefly from 1996-1997 on a new course around Tropicana Field. After a second hiatus, the event returned in 2003 but as a Champ Car race, using a modified layout of the original 1985–90 waterfront circuit. In 2004, the event was cancelled due to a dispute between the promoters but returned in 2005, this time as part of the IRL IndyCar Series, making this the first non-oval event for the Indy Racing League.

Some trivia:
The driver with most wins: 3, Hélio Castroneves, 2006, 2007, 2012.
The team with most wins: 9, Team Penske, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016.

Track layout:



Length:
1.8 Miles (2.9 Km)
Turns: 14

Lap record: Will Power, March 12, 2016. 1:00.245, 107.561 Mph (173.102 Km/h). Team Penske, Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V6. Verizon IndyCar Series.

Last year's race:
During qualifying, Will Power took his seventh Pole at St Petersburg breaking his own lap record, which he set the previous year. Team Penske repeated 2015's top-four shutout, with all four drivers finishing in exactly the same order as they did in 2015.

The start of the race saw Power take the lead from Pole, as Hinchcliffe passed Dixon for second place. The field made it through Turn 1 but Rahal and Kimball made contact coming through Turn 2, putting Rahal into a spin and sending Kimball towards the wall in Turn 3, where he collected Muñoz. Castroneves, Jones and Aleshin also sustained damage in the incident, bringing out the first full-course yellow.

On lap 5, Hinchcliffe immediately took the lead on the restart, pulling away and extending his lead to over four seconds by lap 12. On lap 14, Power suddenly came into the pits with a puncture, sending him to the back of the field. As he left the pits, he ran over the air hose, incurring a drive-through penalty, which put him further behind Hinchcliffe and moved Dixon into second place.

The first round of green flag pit stops began on lap 20 with a few drivers, including Bourdais and Pagenaud who were further down the field, being some of the first in. However, on lap 26, in the middle of this round of stops, the second full-course yellow came out as Kanaan and Aleshin made contact in Turn 4, littering the track with debris. This forced the top seven placed drivers to pit, losing track position and giving Pagenaud the lead, with Bourdais and Andretti in second and third. Pigot, who was running fifth up until his pit stop, retired when the left-rear brake on his car exploded.

The race resumed on lap 30 with no incidents among the leaders. Further back, Dixon briefly lost acceleration on his car, sending him down the field. In turn 2, Conor Daly and Ryan Hunter-Reay made contact, but were able to avoid significant damage. On lap 37, the lead of the race changed hands again when Bourdais passed Simon Pagenaud in Turn 1, with Bourdais quickly pulling away.

The second round of scheduled stops began on lap 50, with Bourdais and Pagenaud still in first and second respectively. Meanwhile Power moved up to third, though he was off-sequence with the other leaders, due to a combination of his tyre stop, the drive-through penalty and the full course yellow during the first round of stops. With no concerns about saving fuel, Bourdais began to extend his lead even further than on the previous stint. Meanwhile, Dixon began to move back up through field and into seventh place by lap 75.

The last round of green flag stops began on lap 77 without major incident, though Sato had a delayed pit stop after a wheel-gun jammed, causing him to lose a few positions. Bourdais was still in the lead and Dixon continued to climb through the field, emerging from his stop in fourth place. Shortly after the end of the pit-stops, Power dramatically slowed on track with a fuel-feed issue and despite efforts to get it fixed, without bringing the car into the pits, he was black flagged for running too slowly and eventually retired from the race, giving Dixon third place.

Bourdais won and by the end of the race had pulled out a lead of over 10 seconds. Pagenaud was second, with the third podium spot going to Dixon.

Bourdais' victory came after starting in last place and was his first race driving for Dale Coyne Racing since 2011. The win marked his 36th in American Open-Wheel Racing, breaking a tie between himself and Bobby Unser for sixth on the all-time winners list. It was Bourdais' first win since Detroit in 2016 and Dale Coyne Racing's, first since 2014, when Carlos Huertas won Race 1 of The Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston.

Pole:
Will Power. 1:01.064, 106.12 mph (170.12 Km/h)

Winner:
Sébastien Bourdais,
Dale Coyne Racing,
Dallara DW12-Honda HI17TT

Laps: 110
Distance 198 Miles (318.65 Km)
Race Time 2:04:32
Average Speed 95.391 Mph (153.517 Km/h)
Caution periods: 2
Caution laps: 8

Race Broadcast:
ABC Sunday, March 11. 12:30PM ET.

Last edited by bjohnsonsmith; 7 Mar 2018 at 01:00.
bjohnsonsmith is online now  
__________________
"If you're not winning you're not trying."
Colin Chapman.
Quote
 

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
2018 Pirelli World Challenge Rounds 1 & 2: Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Mechanic Z North American Racing 60 12 Mar 2018 17:26
2017 IndyCar season, Round 1: Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, March 10-12 bjohnsonsmith Indycar Series 45 16 Mar 2017 00:01
2016 Season. Round 1: Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, March 11-13. bjohnsonsmith Indycar Series 42 19 Mar 2016 10:03
Round 1: Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, March 27 - 29, 2015 bjohnsonsmith Indycar Series 59 9 Apr 2015 14:06
Round 1: Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, March 28 - 30, 2014 bjohnsonsmith Indycar Series 48 31 Mar 2014 17:45


All times are GMT. The time now is 21:29.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Original Website Copyright © 1998-2003 Craig Antil. All Rights Reserved.
Ten-Tenths Motorsport Forums Copyright © 2004-2021 Royalridge Computing. All Rights Reserved.
Ten-Tenths Motorsport Forums Copyright © 2021-2022 Grant MacDonald. All Rights Reserved.