Objective clear source: indycar.com / Dave Lewandowski Helio Castroneves says his early exit from the inaugural Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was ample motivation for 2006. He won, leading to the obvious: What's your motivation for this year? "Make it two in a row," Castroneves said matter of factly. "St. Petersburg is one of my favorite races on the schedule because the track is a lot of fun and the race weekend has a great atmosphere. The fans love this race, and it's always great to go to places where there is strong fan support." The gregarious Brazilian started fifth and led 40 laps on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn circuit to hand Team Penske its first road/street course victory since it joined the IndyCar Series in 2002. In 2005, he was involved in an incident on Lap 14 that took him out of the race. "I was determined to make it to the final laps of the race and make it worth it," Castroneves said. "It turned out to be a great day. We had some issues on pit road, but we bounced back and made it to victory circle. It felt fantastic." The temporary street circuit along scenic Tampa Bay will be additionally challenging with the 3.5-liter Honda Indy V-8 engines providing more torque. The Dallara/Honda/Firestone packages do not have traction control. "The circuit is very challenging because of the long straightaways and the tight turns," Castroneves said. "This makes the car difficult to set up because you want to have as little downforce as possible on the straightaways, yet enough to get you through the corners quickly. Plus, the new engine package gives us more low-end power, which will also pose some engineering challenges. "You definitely have to have a good setup," Castroneves said. "It's very challenging because of the bumps. Street courses normally are very difficult because they're not a permanent road course so every year there is change, even if the layout is the same. You have to be really careful. You can't drive full throttle because the margin for error is very small.
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