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Senior writer, RACER Magazine http://www.racer.com/speedtv
Senior writer, RACER Magazine http://www.racer.com/speedtv
04/06/2008 - 05:13 PM
St. Petersburg, Fla.
Graham Rahal surged to the front and stayed there in his first IndyCar Series start. (Greg Aleck/Fastline photo) » More Photos
In his first IndyCar Series race, Graham Rahal made quick work of the new competition.
Rahal, the 19-year-old son of 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, recovered from trouble early in the race to claim victory Sunday in the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. It was the first victory by a former Champ Car driver in just the second race since the two open-wheel series unified under the IndyCar banner.
Rahal skipped the season opener last week at Homestead-Miami Speedway after he crashed there during practice before the race. Instead, his Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing team chose to focus on St. Pete, the first street race of the season, with the same car that crashed at Homestead.
“We showed up this weekend and the car was awesome,” Rahal said. “We set the tone right away. We went through one practice session where we were 15th and 18th, and everybody started to question it. I just kept telling everyone, ‘Hey, we’ve got a good car. Don’t worry about it.’”
In the end, the only ones worried about it were the ones chasing Rahal. Castroneves had a shot at him on a restart with 5 minutes left in the two-hour race, but Rahal beat Castroneves into the first turn and began to pull away. The victory made Rahal the youngest winner ever in a major open-wheel race, 74 days younger than Marco Andretti when he won at Infineon Raceway in 2006.
“I knew that he had won a lot of races and had been very successful, but I also knew that we had the pace to beat him,” Rahal said. “I just kept telling myself that. I just kept telling myself not to overdrive it. On the restart, I went into Turn 1 and locked the right front, but everything worked pretty well after that and we managed to pull away.”
Following Castroneves was pole winner Tony Kanaan, who led early as the race started under wet conditions but fell behind as his team tried a different tire and pit strategy. E.J. Viso, who also led briefly, finished fourth, followed by Enrique Bernoldi, Hideki Mutoh, Oriol Servia and Will Power, giving former Champ Car teams five of the first eight positions.
Afterward, Rahal said he didn’t believe his victory represented anything in the still-simmering rivalry between teams and competitors from the two sides of the split, which tarnished the past 12 years of open-wheel racing in the U.S.
Viso opened a lot of eyes (John Dunagan/Fastline photo) » More Photos
“It’s going to linger for quite a while,” Rahal said. “A lot of people wanted to see how well the Champ Car drivers would do this weekend, but we’re past our first road course now. We’re all in the same series, and we’re all working together to make this what it used to be. That’s how we need to approach this. … (The hard feelings) have to end, but I think it’s going to be around for quite a while. That’s out of our control, unfortunately.”
Castroneves, who had pitted 23 laps after Rahal’s last pit, lost his chance to catch Rahal on fuel but gained a chance to catch him on a restart when Vitor Meira and Franck Perera crashed in Turn 10 on the 76th lap. Perera, attempting to pass Meira in the inside heading into the left-hander, clipped Meira‘s left rear and spun him around. Seconds later, Townsend Bell smashed into Meira‘s stationary car.
“It was a dumb rookie move and something you'd expect out of somebody that doesn't know what they're doing on a street course,” Meira said. “To pass here, you have to be side-by-side, at least, and you can't pass where he crashed me with just your nose inside. He didn't have one-fifth of his car in a position to pass me. He ruined a great run.”
John Barnes, Meira’s car owner, was even more blunt: "Maybe next year Conquest will hire drivers who can see."
By then a timed event, the race had just minutes remaining, and Castroneves’ only shot at Rahal appeared to be on a restart. Castroneves pulled close on the front straight and tried to move alongside, but, with smoke pouring from his locked right-front tire, Rahal outbraked Castroneves heading into Turn 1. From there, he pulled away.
“It just showed that open-wheel is getting stronger and better,” Castroneves said of Rahal’s win. “Good job for him. He did an excellent job. It’s a great day for motor racing. It just proves that guys who execute are the guys who are successful.”
Bobby Rahal, who won three CART championships during his career, was emotional in his assessment of his son‘s effort. “I told him what a beautiful job he did, and how proud I was of him, and how I loved him,“ Rahal said. “It was a great race, a great job. What else can you say?“
The race began with 10 laps under caution while sweepers were used to reduce large puddles on the track following a downpour minutes before the scheduled start. Kanaan took the green flag on the 11th lap, and Ryan Hunter-Reay -- who started sixth -- spun behind him on the exit of Turn 12. Hunter-Reay continued, but dropped to 18th.
Minutes later, Ed Carpenter and Danica Patrick spun in separate incidents. Marco Andretti then spun, bringing out a full-course caution, and barely got restarted in front of the pace car to stay on the lead lap. At that point, the different strategies began when the pits opened on the 16th lap. Kanaan pitted, as did Castronves, and Justin Wilson assumed the lead.
On the 32nd lap, as Ryan Briscoe pursued Wilson for the lead, another full-course caution was ordered for debris. Most of the leaders hit the pits, and most took on slick tires as the groove began to dry. Briscoe stayed out and inherited the lead, but later had to pit, giving the lead to Enrique Bernoldi.
On the 48th lap, Viso passed Bernoldi for the lead. Nine laps later, Briscoe crashed hard on the exit of Turn 10, bringing out another full-course yellow. Hunter-Reay and Rahal stayed out, giving Hunter-Reay the lead, while Viso held third position.
Rahal passed Hunter-Reay heading into Turn 1 on the restart on the 64th lap, while Castroneves passed Viso for third place moments before Ed Carpenter and Wilson crashed, bringing out another caution. On the restart with less than 20 minutes remaining, Castroneves passed Hunter-Reay for second, setting up the duel between Rahal and Castroneves.
Castroneves congratulates the winner. (LAT photo) » More Photos
“It felt so good to come across the finish line,” Rahal said. “You know you want to win your first race, and unfortunately it didn‘t come last year in Champ Car. I was sitting in the car thinking, ’Please just come to an end. Please, everything work out.’”
The IndyCar Series resumes in two weeks with split events. The former Champ Car teams will head to Long Beach for one last run with their Cosworth/Panoz equipment, while the IndyCar regulars will head to Twin Ring Motegi in Japan. The entire group then will compete April 27 at Kansas Speedway, the last race before the Indianapolis 500.
Honda GP of St. Petersburg results:
1. Graham Rahal, Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, 83 laps, 1:4.2384
2. Helio Castroneves, Team Penske, 83, 3.5192sec, 1:4.3631
3. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing 83, 5.5134, 1:3.8874
4. E.J.Viso, HVM Racing, 83, 8.8575 , 1:4.5479
5. Enrique Bernoldi, Conquest Racing, 83, 9.6360, 1:5.2284
6. Hideki Mutoh, Andretti Green Racing, 83, 10.0071, 1:5.3475
7. Oriol Servia, KV Racing Technology, 83, 11.2871, 1:4.9632
8. Will Power, KV Racing Technology, 83, 12.8493, 1:4.3728
9. Justin Wilson, Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, 83, 14.3598, 1:4.5643
10. Danica Patrick, Andretti Green Racing, 83, 16.7298, 1:5.1363
11. A.J. Foyt IV, Vision Racing, 83, 20.8319, 1:5.8344
12. Dan Wheldon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 83, 24.7800, 1:5.5038
13. Darren Manning, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, 83, 45.8601, 1:4.8965
14. Jay Howard, Roth Racing, 82, 1 lap, 1:5.8198
15. Buddy Rice, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 82 1:10.6341, 1:5.5667
16. Mario Moraes, Dale Coyne Racing, 82, 1:11.9495, 1:5.2651
17. Ryan Hunter-Reay, Rahal Letterman Racing, 81, 2 laps, 1:4.6828
18. Ed Carpenter, Vision Racing, 80, 3 laps, 1:5.8989
19. Vitor Meira, Panther Racing 75, 8 laps, 1:5.0912
20. Franck Perera, Conquest Racing, 75, 0.3255, 1:4.6209
21. Townsend Bell, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 75, 6.5569, 1:5.7828
22. Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 74, 9 laps, 1:4.5273
23. Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske, 56, 27 laps, 1:4.8343
24. Bruno Junqueira, Dale Coyne Racing, 44, 39 laps, 1:15.738
25. Marco Andretti, Andretti Green Racing, 41, 42 laps, 1:14.780
DNS Marty Roth, Roth Racing
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