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Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Preview

Action on the front straight at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. [Chis Jones Photo]

 

On a recent trip to St. Petersburg, FL, we were driving to the Salvador Dali Museum when a flashing sign told us to detour because a “track build” was in progress. We soon found our rental car twisting and turning on the street course that would shortly host the Verizon IndyCar Series’ Firestone Grand Prix. No spins, no burnouts and no checkered flag, but the Dali Museum had quite a challenging entry way welcoming guests for a few days. Somewhere Dali, the surrealistic artist, is smiling.

And on Sunday, March 29, fans of Indy car racing will also be smiling as the Verizon IndyCar Series opens its 2015 season with the running of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

The Verizon-sponsored series has been quiet since last August when Will Power grabbed his first championship at California’s Auto Club Speedway, giving Team Penske its 13th Indy car crown.

Penske’s crew, now numbering four drivers, will come to St. Petersburg as the favorites Sunday, having won there six times, including four of the last six at the 1.8-mile, 14-turn waterfront facility.

Chevrolet is the defending series engine-manufacturers champion and the bowtie group has captured the last three races at St. Pete.

Aero-kits, designed to give the Dallara racers better grip and a distinct Honda/Chevy look, have been tested extensively this spring with Chevrolet’s design grabbing seven of the top- ten spots in pre-season runs at Birmingham’s Barber Motorsports Park despite the radical-looking design of Honda’s aero package. Overall, 21 of the 23 drivers who ran at Barber topped the 2014 pole-winner’s time. Fans should be able to see the difference between Honda and Chevy entries when cars are on the raceway this season.

The 2015 schedule finds 16 events at 15 tracks covering March 29-August 30, a five-month calendar that series’ officials hope to expand in the future by scheduling events in warmer climates beginning in spring, 2016. IndyCar had hoped to start its 2015 season in Brasilia, Brazil, but the event was cancelled by newly-elected Federal District officials there. Houston, which has been on and off the schedule since 1998, was dropped this year due to scheduling difficulties at the event site. The Toronto doubleheader was reduced to one race for 2015.

A new series’ event will be held at the NOLA Motorsports Park road course in Louisiana on April 12, while the only doubleheader on the calendar will be the Saturday/Sunday, two-race weekend at Belle Isle in Detroit.

The St. Petersburg event will likely have 23 entrants with 21 of them being full-season teams. Simona de Silvestro will open the season with a single race deal for Andretti Autosport, with hopes of expanding for more races, likely including the Indianapolis 500. Sage Karam will be at St. Pete, also for one race, for Chip Ganassi Racing with hopes to acquire sponsorship for a full season. Jay Howard (Bryan Herta Autosport), Bryan Clauson (Jonathan Byrd’s Racing) and Buddy Lazier (Lazier Partners Racing) have single-race deals for the 500 only.

Major cockpit/team moves include: Simon Pagenaud (Team Penske); Jack Hawksworth (A. J. Foyt-second car); James Hinchcliffe and James Jakes (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports).

Others who have joined the series and hope to make a mark in 2015 include: Luca Filippi (CFH,-road/street races only); Gabby Chaves (Herta); Francesco Dracone (Dale Coyne Racing); Stefano Coletti (KV Racing Technology-Coletti was third in testing at Barber).

Drivers not scheduled to participate in the Verizon Indy Car Series at this time include: Conor Daly; J. R Hildebrand; Ryan Briscoe; Justin Wilson; Mikhail Aleshin; Oriol Servia; Mike Conway.

NOTES:

  • Helio Castroneves (3) and Will Power (2) are the only multiple winners in eleven previous St. Petersburg events. Graham Rahal won here in 2008 which was his first-ever IndyCar Series race. He previously did one season in Champ Car.
  • Recent reports indicate that NASCAR driver A. J. Allmendinger, who started his career in Champ Car, would entertain offers to race in both the Coca Cola 600 and the Indy 500 on May 24. Kurt Busch was the most recent driver to “do the double” but recent off-track issues may prevent him from trying this in 2015.
  • Chaves, Karam, Dracone and Coletti are the only rookies in the IndyCar field at this point.
  • Double points will only be offered at the Indianapolis 500 and the finale at Sonoma.
  • Standing starts have been eliminated for 2015 as the series reports that more development is needed before re-introducing them to the series.
  • The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be shown on ABC TV beginning at 3:00 p.m. (ET).
  • In 2014 Takuma Sato’s A.J. Foyt/Honda was the pole-winner at St. Pete, but Will Power’s Penske/Chevrolet held off eventual Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay’s Andretti/Honda for the win.

 

 

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