The 2014 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was the first race of the 2014 IndyCar Series season, the race took place on March 30 in St. Petersburg, Florida, on the city's temporary street course. The race was won by Will Power for Team Penske. Ryan Hunter-Reay finished second ahead of Hélio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, and Simon Pagenaud. The top finishing rookie in the race was Mikhail Aleshin, in 12th position.
Report
Background Scott Dixon entered this race as the defending series champion, having won his third Indycar title in the 2013 IndyCar Series season from Hélio Castroneves.
This was the first race for 3 Indycar rookies. Jack Hawksworth raced in the number 98 for Bryan Herta Autosport after moving up from the Indy Lights series. Mikhail Aleshin and Carlos Huertas, who both raced in Formula Renault 3.5 in 2013, made their debuts as well, with Aleshin racing for Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports and Huertas Dale Coyne Racing. Carlos Muñoz was the 4th rookie in the field with 3 Indycar races in the 2013 IndyCar Series season, most notably the 2013 Indianapolis 500.
Returning to American open wheel racing, since his last race in 2000, is Juan Pablo Montoya, the 1999 CART Champion and the 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner. In 2014 he will drive for Team Penske in the number 2 car.
This was also the first race for Chip Ganassi Racing using Chevrolet engines after the switch from Honda, with Tony Kanaan replacing Dario Franchitti, after his career ending crash in the second Houston race last year. Other drivers racing for a new teams are; Ryan Briscoe with Chip Ganassi Racing, Mike Conway with Ed Carpenter Racing, Sébastien Bourdais and Sebastián Saavedra with KV Racing Technology.
Classification
Qualifying Pos Name Grp. Round 1 Round 2 Firestone Fast 6 1 Takuma Sato 21:12.00731:03.01311:01.8686 2 Tony Kanaan 11:13.49611:03.26741:02.1637 3 Ryan Hunter-Reay 11:13.72411:03.16471:02.2167 4 Will Power 21:12.22481:03.21831:02.3955 5 Scott Dixon 21:12.00831:03.37531:02.3955 6 Marco Andretti 11:14.72091:03.24061:02.9595 7 Carlos Muñoz (R) 21:12.06031:03.3955 8 Jack Hawksworth (R) 21:12.15561:03.5738 9 Ryan Briscoe 11:15.68601:03.6206 10 Hélio Castroneves 11:14.88111:03.6635 11 Sebastián Saavedra 21:12.30601:03.8374 12 Mike Conway 11:13.94501:03.9618 13 Sébastien Bourdais 11:15.8337 14 Simon Pagenaud 21:12.3741 15 Mikhail Aleshin (R) 11:15.9111 16 Justin Wilson 21:12.5890 17 Carlos Huertas (R) 11:16.8105 18 Juan Pablo Montoya 21:12.6994 19 James Hinchcliffe 12:34.4862 20 Charlie Kimball 21:13.0048 21 Graham Rahal 1no time 22 Josef Newgarden 21:13.1170
Race results Pos Driver Team Engine Laps Time/Retired Pit Stops Grid Laps Led Points1 Will Power Team Penske Chevrolet1102:06:57.62883474532 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda110+ 1.947533403 Hélio Castroneves Team Penske Chevrolet110+ 7.87163102364 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet110+ 15.968535325 Simon Pagenaud Sam Schmidt Motorsports Honda110+ 17.3937314306 Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet110+ 20.388232287 Takuma Sato A. J. Foyt Enterprises Honda110+ 20.85613133288 Justin Wilson Dale Coyne Racing Honda110+ 21.0622316249 Josef Newgarden Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda110+ 21.55443222210 Ryan Briscoe Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet110+ 23.9897392011 Sebastián Saavedra KV Racing Technology Chevrolet110+ 34.40413171912 Mikhail Aleshin (R) Sam Schmidt Motorsports Honda110+ 34.99695151813 Sébastien Bourdais KV Racing Technology Chevrolet110+ 35.35264131714 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda110+ 38.98814211615 Juan Pablo Montoya Team Penske Chevrolet110+ 40.33504181516 Mike Conway Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet110+ 40.914041211517 Carlos Muñoz (R) Andretti Autosport Honda110+ 44.6244471318 Carlos Huertas (R) Dale Coyne Racing Honda110+ 47.56374171219 James Hinchcliffe Andretti Autosport Honda109+ 1 Lap3191120 Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet108+ 2 Laps4201021 Jack Hawksworth (R) Bryan Herta Autosport Honda83Contact38922 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Honda82Contact368
Notes Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Will Power 53 2 Ryan Hunter-Reay 40 3 Hélio Castroneves 36 4 Scott Dixon 32 5 Simon Pagenaud 30
Manufacturer standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 122 2 Honda 72
Note: Only the top five positions are included.
References
http://www.imscdn.com/INDYCAR/Documents/2888/2014-03-30/indycar-race-lapfinal.pdf http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113203 http://www.indycar.com/News/2014/03/3-30-Box-Score-StPete