St. Pete Opener Brings Fresh Wings To INDYCAR Favorites

“We’ve been on the podium (at St Pete) too many times in the past not to have won this thing” – Ryan Hunter-Reay [photo by Chris Owens]

Indianapolis: A new season of INDYCAR racing commences this weekend with the twelfth Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (Florida). The inaugural race over the streets of this Gulf Coast city was held in 2005, and bears the distinction of being the first oval-less event in series history.

The action typically is furious and fresh as new combinations of team and driver work out the kinks from the winter lay-off. This year’s event promises even more surprises than usual, as the newly deployed “aero kits” add another major variable to the competition.

Reigning Indianapolis 500 champion Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport is the early favorite to win his first Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. “We’ve been on the podium (at St Pete) too many times in the past not to have won this thing,” he said. “Now we have our sights set on a victory to start the 2015 season.”

He will be challenged by Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves, a three-time winner of this race (2006, 2007 and 2012).

Of note, among the five rookies who will test the circuit is 20 year-old Sage Karam, driv-ing for Chip Ganassi Racing. Karam will break teammate Scott Dixon’s mark as the youngest driver to participate in the race. Dixon was 22 years old when he maid his maiden voyage here in 2002.

“St. Petersburg is one of the best places to kick off the season,” Dixon said. “The track itself it always fantastic racing with big braking zones going into turn one. It’s also very wide, great for starts, restarts and overtaking throughout the race.”

The circuit is a challenging 1.8 miles that wends its way through 14 turns under palms and along the marina side of St. Petersburg. This year’s weather forecast promises re-lief from the brutal winter of central Indiana with temps in the seventies and sunny skies on race day Sunday.

Television broadcast partner ABC will launch its coverage at 3PM ET on March 29th with Allen Bestwick, Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever in the booth. As in the past, live streaming video will flow over the INDYCAR series website and the radio crew with veteran Paul Page and Davey Hamilton on board can be heard on Sirius XM and the IMS Radio Network.

Each car is allotted 70 gallons of E85 fuel for practice and qualifying. Firestone is providing seven sets of primary tires and three alternates, built on the same spec as the 2014 tire for this race.

The familiar three-round knockout qualifying format will determine the pole-sitter. AJ Foyt Racing’s Takuma Sato won the prime spot on the grid last year.

Allan Brewer

Allan Brewer covers IndyCar and other racing series for RacingNation.com. Allan is a fixture at the race track, armed with keyboard and camera, eager to take you inside open-wheel sport where the news is being made. He comes to RacingNation.com with multiple professional awards from the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association (AWWRBA). He began his motorsports writing career at FastMachines.com; and solely published IndyProRacer.com and A1GP.com, two award-winning websites for open-wheel racing’s junior leagues, prior to becoming IndyCar correspondent at Motorsport.com. He has also covered Formula 1, NASCAR, Formula E, the Indy Lights Series and its predecessor Indy Pro Series, NHRA events and major auto shows. His major interest outside of competition is automotive technology and its application to the cars we drive every day on the public highways.

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