Ryan Briscoe (Penske) got to a great start by winning the IndyCar Series inaugural race that was held this week-end in St-Petersburg, putting an end to what could have been Dale Coyne Racing's first victory in 23 years of Champ Car and IndyCar competition.
Briscoe took the lead from Justin Wilson (Dale Coyne) in the closing stages, then fended off a strong challenge from Ryan Hunter-Reay to secure his second consecutive win after taking last year's season closer in Surfers Paradise.
The race started out to be an accident carnaval and right in the first corner, Graham Rahal (NHLR) was tagged by Tony Kanaan (Andretti Green Racing), while Mike Conway's IndyCar debut came to an early end in the traffic jam behind this incident, as his Dreyer & Reinbold car was spat out of the pack with rear-end damage.
A series of simultaneous incidents occurred later on, as Vitor Meira ran into the back of Alexandre Tagliani and gave the Conquest car a puncture, Mario Moraes was punted out by Hideki Mutoh, and Raphael Matos and Danica Patrick became entangled at high-speed and slammed into the barriers.
Later in the race, another yellow followed immediately as Doornbos and Wheldon collided and collected Mutoh.
St-Petersburg Race Results
Pos Driver Team Gap
1. Ryan Briscoe Penske
2. Ryan Hunter-Reay Vision + 0.4619s
3. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne + 0.9490s
4. Dario Franchitti Ganassi + 1.5230s
5. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green + 2.3214s
6. Will Power Penske + 3.4622s
7. Graham Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan + 4.0672s
8. Dan Wheldon Panther + 4.7283s
9. Vitor Meira Foyt + 5.9559s
10. Alex Tagliani Conquest + 1 lap
11. Robert Doornbos Newman/Haas/Lanigan + 4 laps
12. Stanton Barrett 3G + 4 laps
Retirements:
Driver Team Laps
Marco Andretti Andretti Green 94
Dan Wheldon Panther 86
Hideki Mutoh Andretti Green 86
Scott Dixon Ganassi 80
EJ Viso HVM 75
Ed Carpenter Vision 71
Danica Patrick Andretti Green 31
Raphael Matos Luczo Dragon 31
Mario Moraes KV 31
Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold 1
photo:IRL
Briscoe took the lead from Justin Wilson (Dale Coyne) in the closing stages, then fended off a strong challenge from Ryan Hunter-Reay to secure his second consecutive win after taking last year's season closer in Surfers Paradise.
The race started out to be an accident carnaval and right in the first corner, Graham Rahal (NHLR) was tagged by Tony Kanaan (Andretti Green Racing), while Mike Conway's IndyCar debut came to an early end in the traffic jam behind this incident, as his Dreyer & Reinbold car was spat out of the pack with rear-end damage.
A series of simultaneous incidents occurred later on, as Vitor Meira ran into the back of Alexandre Tagliani and gave the Conquest car a puncture, Mario Moraes was punted out by Hideki Mutoh, and Raphael Matos and Danica Patrick became entangled at high-speed and slammed into the barriers.
Later in the race, another yellow followed immediately as Doornbos and Wheldon collided and collected Mutoh.
St-Petersburg Race Results
Pos Driver Team Gap
1. Ryan Briscoe Penske
2. Ryan Hunter-Reay Vision + 0.4619s
3. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne + 0.9490s
4. Dario Franchitti Ganassi + 1.5230s
5. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green + 2.3214s
6. Will Power Penske + 3.4622s
7. Graham Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan + 4.0672s
8. Dan Wheldon Panther + 4.7283s
9. Vitor Meira Foyt + 5.9559s
10. Alex Tagliani Conquest + 1 lap
11. Robert Doornbos Newman/Haas/Lanigan + 4 laps
12. Stanton Barrett 3G + 4 laps
Retirements:
Driver Team Laps
Marco Andretti Andretti Green 94
Dan Wheldon Panther 86
Hideki Mutoh Andretti Green 86
Scott Dixon Ganassi 80
EJ Viso HVM 75
Ed Carpenter Vision 71
Danica Patrick Andretti Green 31
Raphael Matos Luczo Dragon 31
Mario Moraes KV 31
Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold 1
photo:IRL