The IndyCar inaugural opening race of the 2016 season was held in St. Petersburg, Florida on Sunday. Juan Pablo Montoya gave a masterful performance in his Verizon-sponsored Chevrolet, finishing first in a racing machine that had to be driven with a broken steering arm. He bested his teammate, Simon Pagenaud, by a little over two seconds and found victory for the second straight time at St. Petersburg.
Will Power, Juan Pablo Montoya’s teammate, was set to start on the pole position, but was replaced by Oriol Servia due to concussion symptoms and sent to the back of the field for the start of the contest. Servia never fully recovered and finished the road course in 19th. Simon Pagenaud, another Verizon-sponsored cohort, took full advantage and jumped out in front for the first 110 laps of the race.
The race was caution-free until mid-way through the race when Marco Andretti clipped Luca Filippi. Filippi guided his Honda racing machine to the inside and sent Andretti’s #27 Honda spinning out of control and the yellow flag was raised. The field of cars got back to racing with 57 revolutions remaining with Conor Daly and Tony Kanaan electing to stay out of the pits and in front of the pack.
Only four laps later, the second and last caution of the day occurred. Graham Rahal was forced to slow his Steak-N-Shake-sponsored Honda, which left Carlos Munoz with no place to go entering turn 4. Munoz plowed into Rahal and a pileup ensued that collected Oriol Servia’s #12 Verizon car essentially clogging the track for another six trips around under yellow.
After the green flag was waved, Juan Pablo Montoya made his last pass of the day for the lead in turn one, and drove to victory lane. Team Penske tallied three of its IndyCars in the top five with Juan Pablo Montoya in first, Simon Pagenaud in second, and Helio Castroneves’s Hitachi/Verizon Chevrolet in fourth.
“I feel like we can get a lot of wins this year,” said Montoya, a two-time Indy 500 winner who lost the 2015 Drivers’ Championship to Scott Dixon on a technicality. “It’s nice to start the year with a win. To be honest with you, when you’re in Team Penske, there’s always that pressure that you got to win races. You have to win. You’re in the best car, you got to win races.”
Another bright spot in the Gran Prix of St. Petersburg is the way that rookie driver Conor Daly performed. The up-and-coming young driver found a way to lead 15 laps in the slippery Floridian streets. This was a great sign for the Dale Coyne-owned and Jonathon Byrds Hospitality-sponsored Honda.
Daly’s racing partner Luca Fillipi also flexed some racing muscle early on, but finished 20th after the contact with Marco Andretti. All in all it was a good showing for Coyne’s drivers and their performances should give Coyne a lot of confidence going into the Verizon Racing Series next event at Phoenix.
It took two hours and 13 minutes to complete the 110 lap, 1.8 mile road course. The race was considered a clean race with only two cautions that resulted in 16 laps ran under yellow. The IndyCars averaged a speed of 89 miles per hour and produced four lead changes throughout the contest.
Final Results for the Gran Prix of St. Petersburg:
1. Juan Pablo Montoya
2. Simon Pagenaud
3. Ryan Hunter-Reay
4. Helio Castroneves
5. Mikhail Aleshin
6. Takuma Sato
7. Scott Dixon
8. Carlos Munoz
9. Tony Kanaan
10. Charlie Kimball (spun out on final lap)
11. Jack Hawksworth
12. Alexander Rossi
13. Conor Daly
14. Spencer Pigot
15. Marco Andretti
16. Graham Rahal
17. Max Chilton
18. Oriol Servia (filling in for Will Power)
19. James Hinchcliffe
20. Luca Filippi
21. Sebastien Bourdais (DNF)
22. Josef Newgarden (DNF)
2016 Verizon IndyCar Series Official Point Standings:
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