Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

March 17, 2018

 

Kate and Olivier



Alex and Michael

Tony Kanaan

Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

The start of the Indy Car season is always something that I look forward to with great anticipation, the off-season is far too long and by the time the first race arrives in mid-March, I am more than ready to head to the track to see some racing excitement. This year, the level of excitement is raised somewhat by the continued growth of the Indy Car series, the largest entry list in some years, a brand new aero package that improves the look and style of the cars and the infusion of a lot of new rookies to the series, which adds to the excitement.

 

Santi Urrutia after winning the Indy Lights race





Drivers changing teams and new sponsors all add to the different look of the field as I hit the temporary road course through the streets of downtown St. Petersburg to check it all out for the first practice of the year. The weather was beautiful and the practice was busy as all 24 car and driver combinations took to the track for the first official practices of the year.

Sebastian Bourdais

Dalton Kellett

Michael and Mario Andretti



One of the cool things about having new cars is that it is a great equalizer, the richer, more experienced teams have not had the prep time needed to gain a competitive advantage so the results can be much different at the start of the season than what we will see once the season is rolling. Personally I quite enjoy seeing some of the smaller teams topping the speed charts and the young new drivers excelling. 







 



This was illustrated in the qualifying session held on Saturday, with light rain impacting the sessions as they went along, the results were not what anyone would have predicted with three rookie drivers making the fast six and rookie Robert Wickens driving for Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports grabbing the pole position. Newcomers Matheus Leist (AJ Foyt Racing) qualified third and Jordan King (Ed Carpenter Racing) nabbed the fourth position after setting a new track record in the first round. Veteran Will Power (Penske) was in second and rounding of the Fast 6 were Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Takuma Sato (fifth) and Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Conor Daly and Michael

Robert Wickens

Jack Harvey

I was joined on race day by my friend Alex, he and his wife Anna recently relocated to a beautiful area of St. Pete only a short walk from the downtown racing circuit and I had the chance to visit their beautiful new home and Alex met me at the race on Sunday. I had my traditional seats above the pits, thankfully across from a large screen TV. Prior to the start of the race I watched the Indy Lights race and wondered down through the paddock and pits.



James Hinchcliffe

Simon Pageneuad

Michael and Arie Jr.

It is always great to be able to hang out with the drivers and teams, there are few sports where fans can intermingle with the athletes just prior to the start of an event, but Indy Car drivers are as nice and accommodating as can be. Creating something of a stir along pit row was the presence of the star of the recently completed reality TV show, “The Bachelor” Arie Lyendyk Jr. I have seen Arie around for years as his father is a two time Indy 500 champion, but never seen the show.

Conor Daly and Arie Lyendyk Jr.



Colton Herta

Ryan Hunter-Reay

He had caused some sort of controversy by dumping one potential suitor and choosing another at the last minute and created something of a pop culture moment. He had even been spoofed on Saturday Night Live the previous night. I have seen him around the paddock for years but nothing like the throng that surrounded him prior to this race. He had his lovely girlfriend who had been his final choice on the show and she was getting a ride in the two-seater with Mario Andretti, so that was sort of interesting to watch.



Ryan Hunter-Reay



Becky and Hinch

The race was damn good, Wickens jumped in to the lead on the first lap and two-time Grand Prix winner Will Power spun out. Former Indy 500 champion Tony Kanaan went sideways. Veteran Charlie Kimball got off-course and stalled near the Turn 13 tires, all by the end of lap two. It was something of a crazy start, but it soon settled down a bit with Wickens proving to be a dominant force.



Wickens led a race-high 69 laps (including 19 of the first 24) in his No. 6 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda and needed only 11 laps to open up a two-second lead on the field. Alexander Rossi, the 2016 Indy 500 champion seemed like one of the only cars that could challenge him on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street course.But Rossi made a costly error with 12 laps to go when pushed too hard to make up Wickens' one-second lead. He went wide and had to slow down, costing him two seconds and, it seemed, the race.

Robert Wickens

But two late cautions bunched the field and on the final restart of the race, Rossi tried an ambitious inside move going into turn one that ended up punting Wickens aside and into the barrier, while Rossi dropped to third as Sebastian Bourdais and Graham Rahal slipped by to take first and second in the race. Bourdais, driving again for Dale Coyne returned to Victory Lane for the second straight year, but more importantly for the first time since a vicious accident during qualifying for last year’s Indy 500 sidelined him with injuries for most of last season.

Sebastian Bourdais



Bourdais and family





It was a fun and celebratory time in Victory Lane as Alex and I joined my friend Kate and her husband Olivier who is the engineer on the winning car in the Winner’s Circle to watch the fun and celebration. I felt gutted for Wickens, who drove a brilliant race, but very happy to see SeaBass back on top.

Alex





Olivier