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2008ISCRaceCvgStPete |
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We're here in St
Pete for the 4th year in a row covering this event... |
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Graham Rahal wins
the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg... |
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Obviously due to rain and a slow
race pace the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg wasn't going to
go the full 100 lap distance, as it turned out, the race came up
17 laps short. When the final green flag green came out with 4
minutes remaining in the race, perhaps knowing that he had
little for race leader Graham Rahal, Helio Castroneves tried to
get him on the restart, and couldn't make the trip. All Rahal
had to do was hold off Helio Castroneves to win, and still not
run out of Ethanol. Clearly he had both issues covered, plenty
of fuel and also a car that was a heck of a lot faster. Behind
Rahal and Castroneves, Tony Kanaan first got past Ernesto Viso
for 4th, then Ryan Hunter-Reay for 3rd. As Bobby Rahal watched
his son get his first major open wheel series win, his team's
car was running out of fuel soon after Kanaan passed his driver,
Ryan Hunter-Reay. On the final lap Ed Carpenter spun in turn 10,
then Jay Howard and Dan Wheldon spun in turn 1. Graham Rahal won
to a rousing ovation in the Media Center... For those bothering
to count, there were 6 former CCWS drivers in the top-10, and
four from the ICS, but they are all in one series now, the
sooner we can get past that the better off this form of racing
will be. I'll do a TiVo rerun tonight and get all this tidied
up. |
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Race winner Graham
Rahal, only 19 years old, driving the Hole in the Wall Camps,
Newman/Haas/Lanigan Dallara Honda shown in Friday practice. |
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Here's Graham on the pit podium
being debriefed after this morning's warm up session. |
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The new-look,
quality-enhanced IndyCar Series is set to go at St. Pete today,
meanwhile Tony Kanaan "wins" another session, this time the
Sunday morning warm up... |
(4-6-08, 1:45 p.m. EDT, an
update) The Marty Roth entry in today's Honda Grand Prix of
St. Petersburg has been withdrawn. Officially the reason is that
"the parts needed to repair the car weren't available."
While Helio Castroneves has been virtually unbeatable at St.
Pete unless he takes himself out of contention with a
poorly-timed, impatient pass on a lapped back marker. A 4th win
in a row will be no walk in recently completed
airport/waterfront park this afternoon for Castroneves.
Follow today's race action in a live running recap format and
see additional photos and commentary
here...
Earlier this morning both the Firestone Indy Lights cars and the
IndyCars had 30-minuet warm up sessions, both on a dry track. In
the IndyCar session again it was Tony Kanaan atop the ICS T&S
chart. Marty Roth continued his quest to bring out a caution
flag in every P&Q session he runs, this time Roth also did his
best to exacerbate whatever Dallara parts shortage issues the
ICS may be having by taking out his right front wing and dinging
the nose of his car... |
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*** |
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It's Race Day at
the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg... |
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Here's the picture worth the
proverbial 1,000 words
on the weather here at
the HGPSP. Remember this is looking to the northwest, at 9:00
a.m., and in spite of predictions of a 90% chance of
rain today, I think we have a large enough weather window to
get this afternoon's race in. The worse case scenario would have
it rain late in the race. Hey, races under wet conditions can b
very entertaining. Keep in mind though that 70% of this race is
run through "concrete canyons," that seldom drain very well, get
enough rain to puddle up and you'll see a quick red flag.
As a reminder as I build this race page, don't forget there are
lots of photos, T&S charts and commentary from
Thursday,
Friday
and
Saturday
in these additional pages of coverage.
In the time between now and the start of the race at
2:30 this afternoon I'll build a "work-in-progress"
Photo Page...
as well.(Here's a
quick update) The City of St. Petersburg and Andretti Green
Promotions have announced an agreement to continue racing in St.
Pete for four more years... |
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Tony Kanaan wins
the pole position for the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg,
former CCWS drivers Power and Wilson run 2nd and 3rd... |
Earlier today it took the
Firestone Fast Six qualifiers three separate runs to determine
the final first three rows of Sunday's starting grid through
Knock Out qualifying. I'll admit I wasn't sold on either the
process or the need for change, but in the end it made for a
very interesting 90 minutes of suspense. Here's my take on the
new "Q" format, unfortunately at times changes are made and the
stated reason doesn't wash, I think that is the case here. Lets
crunch some numbers, we have 26 entries here at St. Pete, my
guess is that the average "Q" lap will take 62 seconds, given
nearly a half-minute for "spacing," that means you could throw a
checkered flag on a single lap "Q" run every 90 seconds, but
just for spits and grins lets they average one "Q" lap every two
minutes, 26X2=52 minutes. That means that at least here they can
qualify the field in less than hour, take a break to setup
Firestone Fast Six and still get the entire "show" in in the 90
minutes they have allotted for today's qualifying. Even at
Watkins Glen, where a "Q" lap takes 92 seconds, they can STILL
run single lap "Q" runs.
Upon further review, although I can see where the system could
be unfair at times, there is no denying the new system was
interesting and exciting, and provided slightly more than 90
minutes of almost non-stop action. See the charts, pictures
and commentary
here... |
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Tony Kanaan gets his car a bit
sideways during one of his three "Q" runs. |
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*** |
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I'll be KO
qualifying today at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg... |
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For the first
time since the IndyCar Series started road and street racing,
there are so many entries that there is no longer time in a busy
event schedule for single-car time trials. While that is a nice
problem to have, individual qualifying had it's challenges. With
the goal in mind being to get into the Firestone Fast Six runoff
for the pole position, a driver was charged with running fast
enough to make the runoff with his single lap run, but a spin or
off course excursion meant a very poor starting position in a
race where it would be very difficult to chase down the leaders.
While the Firestone Fast Six still remains in this years format,
how a driver gets there will be vastly different. First there
was a blind draw to see who will run in two 20-minute, 13 entry
qualifying sessions. The fastest six cars from each session will
be impounded and those 12 cars will run again for 15 more
minutes. The fastest six cars from that session then move into
the Firestone Fast Six runoff. Drivers eliminated from first
segment qualifying will start Sunday's race from 13 position
back, depending on their lap times. Drivers eliminated from 2nd
segment qualifying will start from 7th position to 12th..
Firestone Fast Six rules remain unchanged. In the first two
segments, yellow flag time is included. The morning practice
has begun, follow Saturday's practice and qualifying runs, and
see a list of drivers running in each of the firs two "Q" two
segment
here... |
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On Friday D&R
Racing hosted a breakfast gathering where it was announced that
William Rast, a clothing company, would sponsor the bulk of the
races Townsend Bell will run for D&R this season while sharing
the #23 with Milka Duno. |
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Helio Castroneves,
Tony Kanaan catch late-session fliers to set quick time/speed of
the day here at St. Pete... |
Although it
is late in the afternoon here, it's still 83 degrees in St.
Pete. Fortunately there was a brisk cooling breeze all
afternoon, but times and speeds are still far short of what we
have seen on the opening day of practice in the past. We're
still seeing a good mix or regular ICS drivers former CCWS guys
in the top-ten, but this time around it is Will Power in 4th
setting that pace after struggling in 19th on this morning's
chart.
Today's practice session coverage, charts and pictures can be
found
here...
Wed./Thurs coverage and photos are
here... |
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Here's a diminutive version of the course
map, better seen and understood as seen here.
In addition, here's a link
to a great map of the area that will get you to the track and even the
easy access off-track parking with a provided shuttle to and from the
track.
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They're getting
things setup for Sunday's Honda Grand Prix of St. Pete, N/H/L
Racing had a rain plagued Sebring test session, and ran very
little... |
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(Thursday
morning update) Good morning from The Honda Grand Prix of St.
Petersburg, it's shortly after 8:00 a.m. and I have the Media
Center just about all to myself. Camera in hand, I'll work the
paddock all day, whatever I see, shoot or learn will continue to
be posted
here... |
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Great working
conditions, a morning view from the Media Center window, just to
left of where I am sitting... |
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*** |
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(3-02-08)
Here are the
two N/H/L
Racing Dallara's of Justin Wilson in the top photo and Graham
Rahal in the lower shot. Remember this is Wednesday, and these
two teams were supposed to be testing at Sebring Int. Raceway
yesterday and today. I asked some of the crew people and learned
they "ran very little" at Sebring yesterday during the lunch
hour, before running into rain. I was told "they couldn't run
any further in the afternoon," and "with a forecast for more of
the same today," they packed it in and headed for St. Pete.
Read more about my first day back to St. Pete
here... |
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