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For the third consecutive time, Dan Wheldon has won the IndyCar Series season opener at Homestead- Miami Speedway, leading teammate Scott Dixon home by more than six seconds in a dominating performance for both the 2005 series champion and the entire Target Chip Ganassi Racing organization. Defending series champion Sam Hornish Jr. rounded out the top three finishers, but was more than 17 seconds behind at the checker.
Round 01: Homestead-Miami Speedway, Miami
It was also an extremely successful debut for the new 3.5-liter Honda HI7R IndyCar Series engine, racing on 100 per cent fuel-grade ethanol for the first time in a major motorsports event. In all, the 20 drivers and teams competing at Homestead completed 5,310 laps of practice, qualifying and racing this weekend a total of 7,965 miles without a single engine-related failure.
Starting from the pole, Wheldon led 179 of the 200-lap race distance, losing the lead only on pit stops. Even what could have been a major problem on his Lap 105 pit stop, when Wheldons crew lost time due to a jammed air line under his Honda Dallara, turned out to be only a minor setback. Resuming in ninth place after the stop, it took Wheldon only 10 laps of green-flag racing to move to the front of the field, where he remained for the rest of the night.
After posting the strongest challenge to Wheldon for the first half of the contest, Hornish faded slightly after his own pit stop miscue on Lap 105, when a stall cost him six positions. He was back to third by Lap 133, but could gain no further ground in the final stages of the race.
After a strong opening segment, Tony Kanaan faded with handling problems just before the first round of pit stops, but a strong recovery by his Andretti Green Racing team saw the 2004 series champion close on Panther Racings Vitor Meira for fourth place in the final laps, but the checker fell with Kanaan just one-half second behind his fellow Brazilian.
In the closest on-track action of the final 20 laps, Vision Racings Tomas Scheckter completed a daring high-side pass of Helio Castroneves on the final lap to snatch eighth place.
After opening the 2007 season on a high speed, 1.5-mile oval, the IndyCar Series now travels across the state of Florida to a temporary street circuit for the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on April 1.
