Will Power wins season opening Verizon IndyCar Series Race: Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

Car 12, Will Power, Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, wins season opening Verizon IndyCar Series Race: Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg after taking the lead he never looked back.

2nd Place Car 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay DHL Honda followed by Will Power’s team mate, Car 3 Helio Castroneves.  Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet in 3rd place. 4th Place the 2013 Indycar Champion Car 9 Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, followed by Car 77 Simon Pagenaud Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports Honda.

Pole sitter Car 14 Takuma Sato ABC Supply A.J. Foyt Racing Honda, led the race until lap 20 and finished in 7th place. In lap 19 – lap 30, teams are doing green flag pit stops, resetting the field after pit stops on lap 30. Takuma Sato retakes the lead with Will Power close behind. Using the power to pass on lap 31 is when Will Power took the lead. This was the 5th straight race at St. Petersburg that Will Power has led. Leaders on pit road from lap 41 – 58 with Power being the leader at the end.

1st Full Course Yellow comes out on lap 76 because Car 83 Charlie Kimball  Novo Nordisk Ganassi Racing Chevrolet hits the wall in corner 2. Lap 77 all lead lap cars are on pit road for four tires and fuel except Car 20 Mike Conway  Fuzzy’s Vodka/Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet. On lap 78 Car 20 Mike Conway  comes into the pits giving Will Power the lead.

Lap 82 restart, on the singe file restart it seemed like the leader Will Power did not accelerate enough & caused the field to bunch up & Car 98 Jack Hawksworth (R) Charter/Castrol Edge Honda spun collecting Car 25 Marco Andretti Snapple Honda.

2nd Full Course Yellow lap Car 25 Andretti climbs from his car without assistance without assistance from the Holmatro Safety Team and walks back to the pit lane. Car 98 Hawksworth rejoins with damage after assistance from Holmatro Safety Team.

Marco Andretti (Car 25 Snapple Honda): “): “Yeah it’s hard to see because I was pretty far back, but Will just stopped. Once you go, you gotta go. It was a bit of an accordion effect, and I just got caught up. That’s what happens when you’re in the back, so I’ve really got no one to blame but myself.” (About the comment that the flag man allegedly waved the green flag early): “That’s why you don’t have an acceleration cone. I’m not complaining, but the leader should dictate it. He probably questioned himself because he might have gotten penalized or something, but you should penalize the leader, he can go when he wants.”

Green flag on lap 87,  INDYCAR officials have penalized Car 8 Huertas with a drive-through penalty for taking full service in a closed pit. Car 20 Conway with a drive-through penalty for passing the pace car and Car 11 Bourdais with a drive-through penalty for failing to pack-up under caution.

Lap 110 CHECKERED FLAG. Car 12 Will Power wins the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg  by 1.9475 seconds over Car 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Car 27 James Hinchcliffe United Fiber & Data Honda (last years winner) had mechanical problems most of the race and finished in 19th place.

FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG POST-RACE NOTES

110 laps, 198 miles on the 14-turn, 1.8-mile street course.

Will Power won his first race of 2014 and the 22nd race of his Indy car career. He has won the last three Indy car races after winning at Houston-2 and Auto Club Speedway in 2013.

It is Power’s second win at St. Petersburg after winning here in 2010

Ryan Hunter-Reay finished second -matching his best finish at St. Petersburg (2009).

Helio Castroneves finished third, his third-straight podium finish here in St. Petersburg, after winning in 2012, finishing

Scott Dixon finished fourth, his fifth top-five finish in 10 starts at St. Petersburg.

Simon Pagenaud finished fifth, his first top-five finish in three starts at St. Petersburg.

Verizon IndyCar Series Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

Position Car #, Driver, Team, Laps, Status, Points

1. Car 12 Will Power Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet

2. Car 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay DHL Honda

3. Car 3 Helio Castroneves  Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet

4. Car 9 Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet

5. Car 77 Simon Pagenaud Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports Honda

6. Car 10 Tony Kanaan Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet

7. Car 14 Takuma Sato ABC Supply A.J. Foyt Racing Honda

8. Car 19 Justin Wilson Dale Coyne Racing Honda

9. Car 67 Josef Newgarden Florida Lottery/SFH Racing

10. Car 8 Ryan Briscoe NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet

11. Car 17 Sebastian Saavedra AFS KVAFS Racing Chevrolet

12. Car 7 Mikhail Aleshin (R) SMP Racing Honda

13. Car 11 Sebastien Bourdais Hydroxycut KVSH Racing Chevrolet

14. Car 15  Graham Rahal National Guard Honda

15. Car 2 Juan Pablo Montoya Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet

16. Car 20 Mike Conway  Fuzzy’s Vodka/Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet

17. Car 34 Carlos Munoz (R) Cinsay AndrettiTV.com HVM Honda

18. Car 18 Carlos Huertas (R) Dale Coyne Racing Honda

19. Car 27 James Hinchcliffe  United Fiber & Data Honda

20. Car 83 Charlie Kimball  Novo Nordisk Ganassi Racing Chevrolet

21. Car 98 Jack Hawksworth (R) Charter/Castrol Edge Honda

22. Car 25 Marco Andretti Snapple Honda

Time of Race: 02:06:57.6288 Avg Speed: 93.572 Margin of Victory: 1.9475 seconds Lead Changes: 7 Caution Laps: 10, Fastest Lap: 103.945 mph ( 62.3404 sec) on lap 95 by 12 – Will Power Fastest Leader Lap: 103.945 mph ( 62.3404 sec) on lap 95 by 12 – Will Power

Next Race: Verizon IndyCar Series Returns to the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

2013 Winner Driver, Car # & Name:  Takuma Sato # 14 ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt Racing Honda

Race Broadcast Sunday, April 13 4 p.m. (ET) NBCSN (Live)

Qualifying Broadcast Saturday, April 12 6 p.m. (ET)

NBC Sports Network

Track Streets of Long Beach (11-turn, 1.968-mile temporary street circuit)

Distance 80 laps/157.4 miles

Radio IMS Radio Network XM 209/Sirius 209; www.indycar.com; INDYCAR 14 app

2013 Race Winner Takuma Sato

At-Track Schedule (all times local):

Friday, April 11.

10-10:45 a.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice #1

2-2:45 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice #2

Saturday, April 12

10-10:45 a.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice #3

1:15 -2:25 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series Pole Qualifying for the Verizon P1 Award (knockout qualifying and Firestone Fast Six format)

Sunday, April 13

9-9:30 a.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series warm-up

12:30 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series pre-race

1:50 p.m. ­- Firestone Grand Prix of Long Beach (80 laps/157.4 miles), NBCSN (Live)

http://www.indycar.com/

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