Team Penske Chevrolet Helio Castroneves ended up being the first ever driver to take the new DW12 to the winning circle after finishing more than 5 seconds in front of Ganassi Honda Scott Dixon in St Petersburg.
For the Brazilian, it was an emotional victory in the IndyCar season-opening race on the streets of St Petersburg, since his last win dates back to more than two years ago.
The race was more or less dictated by a combination of strategy and fuel mileage as Dixon and Castroneves took the lead early in the race and both drivers remained close together thru most of the race.
Castroneves ultimate attack came at the 73rd lap where he took first place and started deepening the gap to finally cross the finish line with more than 5.5s over Dixon.
Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport Chevrolet) finished third just in front of his teammate James Hinchcliffe while Ryan Briscoe (Team Penske Chevrolet) completed the top five.
An excellent race for Schmidt-Hamilton's Simon Pagenaud, who started out in 16th place following a penalty for having changed his engine, and finished 6th.
Polesitter Will Power (Penske) was never quite up to pace much of the afternoon and finally had to settle for 7th.
Some drivers were the victims of reliability problems among them were Takuma Sato, who was forced to pull out on lap 73, and Sebastien Bourdais, who had his Lotus-powered Dragon Racing entry in the top 10 before he too dropped out.
Race results - Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg, FLA.)
1. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevrolet
2. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda + 5.5292s
3. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 7.5824s
4. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 10.6526s
5. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevrolet + 11.7854s
6. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt-Hamilton DW12-Honda + 31.2623s
7. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevrolet + 34.6582s
8. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevrolet + 35.5943s
9. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda + 43.1425s
10. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne DW12-Honda + 44.3141s
11. Josef Newgarden Fisher Hartman DW12-Honda + 44.8275s
12. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda + 45.1080s
13. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda + 45.8468s
14. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 1 lap
15. Alex Tagliani Herta DW12-Lotus + 1 lap
16. Oriol Servia Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus + 1 lap
17. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevrolet + 2 laps
18. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevrolet + 2 laps
Retirements
JR Hildebrand (Panther DW12-Chevrolet) - 95 laps
Mike Conway (Foyt DW12-Honda) - 74 laps
Sebastien Bourdais (Dragon DW12-Lotus) - 72 laps
Takuma Sato (Rahal DW12-Honda) - 72 laps
Katherine Legge (Dragon DW12-Lotus) - 58 laps
Simona de Silvestro (HVM DW12-Lotus) - 21 laps
Tony Kanaan (KV DW12-Chevrolet) - 20 laps
James Jakes (Dale Coyne DW12-Honda) - 18 laps
For the Brazilian, it was an emotional victory in the IndyCar season-opening race on the streets of St Petersburg, since his last win dates back to more than two years ago.
The race was more or less dictated by a combination of strategy and fuel mileage as Dixon and Castroneves took the lead early in the race and both drivers remained close together thru most of the race.
Castroneves ultimate attack came at the 73rd lap where he took first place and started deepening the gap to finally cross the finish line with more than 5.5s over Dixon.
Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport Chevrolet) finished third just in front of his teammate James Hinchcliffe while Ryan Briscoe (Team Penske Chevrolet) completed the top five.
An excellent race for Schmidt-Hamilton's Simon Pagenaud, who started out in 16th place following a penalty for having changed his engine, and finished 6th.
Polesitter Will Power (Penske) was never quite up to pace much of the afternoon and finally had to settle for 7th.
Some drivers were the victims of reliability problems among them were Takuma Sato, who was forced to pull out on lap 73, and Sebastien Bourdais, who had his Lotus-powered Dragon Racing entry in the top 10 before he too dropped out.
Race results - Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg, FLA.)
1. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevrolet
2. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda + 5.5292s
3. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 7.5824s
4. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 10.6526s
5. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevrolet + 11.7854s
6. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt-Hamilton DW12-Honda + 31.2623s
7. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevrolet + 34.6582s
8. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevrolet + 35.5943s
9. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda + 43.1425s
10. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne DW12-Honda + 44.3141s
11. Josef Newgarden Fisher Hartman DW12-Honda + 44.8275s
12. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda + 45.1080s
13. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda + 45.8468s
14. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 1 lap
15. Alex Tagliani Herta DW12-Lotus + 1 lap
16. Oriol Servia Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus + 1 lap
17. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevrolet + 2 laps
18. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevrolet + 2 laps
Retirements
JR Hildebrand (Panther DW12-Chevrolet) - 95 laps
Mike Conway (Foyt DW12-Honda) - 74 laps
Sebastien Bourdais (Dragon DW12-Lotus) - 72 laps
Takuma Sato (Rahal DW12-Honda) - 72 laps
Katherine Legge (Dragon DW12-Lotus) - 58 laps
Simona de Silvestro (HVM DW12-Lotus) - 21 laps
Tony Kanaan (KV DW12-Chevrolet) - 20 laps
James Jakes (Dale Coyne DW12-Honda) - 18 laps