Starting from the pole, Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves held off Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon by just six tenths of a second to win his second consecutive Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Castroneves led all but five laps on the day and avoided the many dramas taking place behind him on the waterfront temporary street circuit, that led to five caution flags for a total of 20 laps. Castroneves also had to contend with a balky transmission in the closing laps, but still fended off all attempts by Dixon to claim the victory.
It was another successful day for the new 3.5-liter Honda HI7R IndyCar Series engine, which races on 100 per cent fuel-grade ethanol in all IndyCar Series events in 2007. The 18 drivers and teams competing in St. Petersburg completed 3,159 laps of practice, qualifying and racing this weekend – a total of 5,686 miles in 80-degree temperatures and high humidity – without a single engine-related failure.
“Comeback of the Race” honors, meanwhile, were shared by Andretti Green Racing’s Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti, who tangled on the opening lap, sending Kanaan to the rear of the field after a spin and Franchitti to pit lane for front suspension repairs. Kanaan resumed at the tail end of the lead lap, and tigered his way back to third at the finish, while clever pit strategy and bold passing through the field saw Franchitti comefrom two laps down on the field to finish fifth.
Other performers of note on Sunday included Darren Manning and Buddy Rice. Driving for the single-car A. J. Foyt team, Manning ran as high as third behind Castroneves and Dixon in the middle portion of the 100-lap contest, the strongest run for a Foyt entry in the past three seasons. Locking rear brakes led to a spin on Lap 75, but Manning recovered to finish 12th, just one lap down on the leaders.
