ROW 9 17- #14 Vitor Meira; ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing (A.J. Foyt Enterprises) -- 1:02.9132 18- #26 Marco Andretti; Andretti Green (Andretti Green Racing) -- 1:03.3652
ROW 10 19- #27 Hideki Mutoh; Formula Dream (Andretti Green Racing) -- 1:03.3300 20- #5 Mario Moraes; KV Racing Technology/Votorantim (KV Racing Technology) -- 1:03.4520
ROW 11 21- R-#98 Stanton Barrett; CURB/Agajanian/Team 3G (CURB/ Agajanian/ Team 3G) --1:06.5934 22- #20 Ed Carpenter; Menards/Vision Racing (Vision Racing) -- 1:04.2416
Legend: P - PEAK Motor Oil Pole Winner R - IndyCar Series Rookie
Passing under pressure By Dave Lewandowski - Indycar.com Sunday, April 5, 2009
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Tabbed an IndyCar Series title contender, Ryan Briscoe didn't wish to quash the pre-season predictions. Sure there would be pressure to perform early in the diverse 17-race schedule, but the North Carolina-residing Aussie counted it as motivation.
In the late-afternoon sun of a perfect spring day along Tampa Bay, Briscoe held up under the heat … under the pressure of the season opener and multiple challengers over the final 14 laps on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street course.
Briscoe gave Team Penske its 30th IndyCar Series victory in the season-opening Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg as he held off Ryan Hunter-Reay by 0.4619 of a second at the checkered flag of 100 laps of physical and mental stress. A sweat-soaked firesuit and blistered palms attested to that, though an unfailing wide smile emerged once unmasked.
Click it: Box score | Race day photo gallery | Discuss the race
"I wanted to come in carrying off the experience I gained last year and try to kick the season off gaining points and trying to go for this championship," said Briscoe, who on previous St. Pete visits finished 23rd and 14th."This is our first race of the season and it's such a great feeling to kick it off with a race win. The conditions were tough; it was very tricky on restarts. The tires would get very cold and it would be very slippery. It was a challenge to keep it between the white lines and off the wall. I had some strong challenges from behind, but my car was very strong today and I was able to hold them off."
Briscoe, who started fourth on the 22-car grid, overtook race leader Justin Wilson in Turn 1 just after a Lap 86 restart. Briscoe withstood pressure on restarts after two more full-course cautions in the final 14 laps to record his third victory in 37 starts over parts of five seasons in the series - his second full season with the Roger Penske-led team.
"At the end there, we had some restarts and I was able to get Justin Wilson down on the inside," Briscoe said. "I had a great car with Team Penske today. Roger Penske calls my strategy and it was just absolutely perfect."
Hunter-Reay, who completed a deal four days earlier with Vision Racing to drive the No. 21 car, gave the fifth-year team its best finish. Wilson, starting second in the No. 19 Sonny's Bar-B-Q car, gave Dale Coyne Racing its best IndyCar Series finish (third). Wilson led a field- and career-high 52 laps.
"It was a good, clean race for us," said Hunter-Reay, who won at Watkins Glen in '08 with Rahal Letterman Racing and started 14th here. "Late in the race, I was thinking long term with points. You couldn't step a foot off line without jeopardizing your car, so I kept it in line for the team. It's been a long week for everyone on the team and everyone who worked on getting it here deserves the credit."
Dario Franchitti, the 2007 IndyCar Series champion who was making his IndyCar Series points-paying race debut with Target Chip Ganassi Racing, finished fourth. Teammate and reigning IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon exited the race on Lap 80 when the No. 9 car made contact with Hideki Mutoh's No. 27 Formula Dream car in Turn 1. Last year on this course, a broken half shaft resulted in Dixon's only non-race finish.
The top five finishers represented five different teams.
Graham Rahal, who a day earlier became the youngest pole winner in series history (20 years, 90 days), saw his prospects of winning for the second consecutive year vanish in a cloud of dust on the opening lap. A five-wide group was attempting to be the first into Turn 1, and as Rahal checked up to avoid another car his No. 02 McDonald's car was bumped from behind by Tony Kanaan. Rahal fought back from 21st to finish seventh.
"The race started bad right from the beginning for the McDonald's team," Rahal said. "I was conservative on the start and I'm guessing it was Kanaan that punted me. From there, it was just battling back all day trying to find a way to get the car back up to the front. We certainly inched away at it to get back up to seventh from last place and I'm pretty happy with that, but I think the results should have, and could have been, better."
Kanaan, who recorded his 67th top-five finish - most in series history - in the No. 11 Team 7-Eleven car, of course saw it differently.
"It's a shame on the start," he said. "Dario dive-bombed everybody and Graham tried to avoid him and he came to a stop. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't avoid him and unfortunately I ended up breaking my front wing and I had to come in. It was a fun race. I came all the way from the back to finish fifth."
The first-lap bumper car scenario eliminated the No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing car driven by rookie Mike Conway. In all, there were seven caution flags for 28 laps -- six of which were a result of contact that knocked out nine cars (including Kanaan's Andretti Green Racing teammates Danica Patrick, Hideki Mutoh and Marco Andretti).
Will Power, making his Team Penske debut in the No. 3 entry, started and finished sixth. Darren Manning, who didn't take the April 1 announcement of his ride in the No. 23 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing car as an April Fools joke, advanced two positions to eighth. Vitor Meira moved up eight spots to ninth in his first race with A.J. Foyt Racing, and Alex Tagliani finished 10th in the No. 34 Conquest Racing entry.
Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway Sunday, April 26, 2009 STARTING LINEUP
Row 1 1- P-#02 Graham Rahal; McDonald’s Racing Team (Newman/ Haas/ Lanigan Racing) -- 1:43.5819 2- R-#06 Robert Doornbos; Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing (Newman/ Haas/ Lanigan Racing) -- 1:43.8994
Row 2 3- #7 Danica Patrick; Motorola (Andretti Green Racing) -- 1:43.9956 4- #9 Scott Dixon; Target Chip Ganassi Racing (Target Chip Ganassi Racing) -- 1:44.0464
Row 3 5- #26 Marco Andretti; Team Venom Energy (Andretti Green Racing) -- 1:44.1195 6- #5 Mario Moraes; KV Racing Technology/Votorantim (KV Racing Technology) -- 1:44.1308
Row 4 7- #6 Ryan Briscoe; Team Penske (Team Penske) -- 1:44.1800 8- #11 Tony Kanaan; Team 7-Eleven (Andretti Green Racing) -- 1:44.1878
Row 5 9- #4 Dan Wheldon; National Guard Panther Racing (Panther Racing) -- 1:44.655 10- #20 Ed Carpenter; Menards/Vision Racing (Vision Racing) -- 1:44.7491
Row 6 11- #67 Sarah Fisher; Dollar General/Sarah Fisher Racing (Sarah Fisher Racing) -- 1:44.9568 12- #23 Milka Duno; CITGO/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (Dreyer & Reinbold Racing) -- 1:44.9598
Row 7 13- #27 Hideki Mutoh; Formula Dream (Andretti Green Racing) -- 1:44.9752 14- #14 Vitor Meira; ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing (A.J. Foyt Enterprises) -- 1:44.9979
Row 8 15- R-#2 Raphael Matos; US Air Force Luczo Dragon (Luczo Dragon Racing) -- 1:45.0379 16- R-#24 Mike Conway; Dad’s Root Beer Dreyer & Reinbold (Dreyer & Reinbold Racing) -- 1:45.1574
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