In a race that appeared to be and was dominated by Target Chip Ganassi Racing s Dan Wheldon last Saturday evening under the lights at Homestead-Miami Speedway, quite a different story was developing just behind him.
Two Vision Racing machines powered by drivers Ed Carpenter and Tomas Scheckter battled for position amongst the top-five, even reaching the second and third spots, respectively. And by the time the checkered flag dropped on the 2007 IndyCar Series season-opener, the team secured a pair of top-ten finishes and showed that in 2007, they plan on being a part of the IndyCar Series lead-pack.
Of course, there s no time to celebrate the achievement, as the team must prepare for the Streets of St. Petersburg as the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will get underway this Sunday afternoon, April 1. The 1.8-mile street course provides a different challenge than that of last weekend s 1.5-mile oval affair, but the team is eager to solidify another top-ten performance and move up to the top-five.
The team has two previous attempts on the Streets of St. Petersburg occurring in 2005 and 2006. In 2005 Driver Ed Carpenter started 19th in the team s IndyCar Series debut and finished 19th due to an accident. It was Carpenter and Vision Racing s first attempt at a road/street course.
Just last season, Carpenter missed the event due to injury sustained in the morning warm-up in the previous race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Roberto Moreno served as Carpenter s substitute along side Scheckter.
Scheckter started the 2006 race in eighth and was running in fourth position with just three laps left before suffering contact with Buddy Rice. The accident ended Scheckter s race and left him in the 12th spot. Moreno also showed a promising start before retiring early on the street course. He started 11th and mixed it up in the top-ten before making contact with Vitor Meira and finished 18th.
