Honda Car Forum

Circuit: Honda Grand Prix (1.8-mile temporary street circuit) St. Petersburg,
FL

2006 Winner: Helio Castroneves (Honda) 92.340 mph average

Weather: Sunny, warm, 83 degrees F



Results:

Castroneves Caps Perfect Penske Day

Starting from the pole,
Team Penske's Helio Castroneves held off Target
Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon by just six tenths of a second to win
his second consecutive Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Castroneves led
all but five laps on the day and avoided the many dramas taking place behind
him on the waterfront temporary street circuit, that led to five caution flags
for a total of 20 laps. Castroneves also had to contend with a balky transmission
in the closing laps, but still fended off all attempts by Dixon to claim the
victory.

It was another successful day for the new 3.5-liter Honda HI7R IndyCar
Series engine, which races on 100 per cent fuel-grade ethanol in all IndyCar
Series
events in 2007. The 18 drivers and teams competing in St. Petersburg completed
3,159 laps of practice, qualifying and racing this weekend - a total
of 5,686 miles in 80-degree temperatures and high humidity - without
a single engine-related failure.

"Comeback of the Race" honors, meanwhile, were shared by Andretti
Green Racing's Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti, who tangled on the opening
lap, sending Kanaan to the rear of the field after a spin and Franchitti to
pit lane for front suspension repairs. Kanaan resumed at the tail end of the
lead
lap, and tigered his way back to third at the finish, while clever pit strategy
and bold passing through the field saw Franchitti come from two laps down on
the field to finish fifth.

Other performers of note on Sunday included Darren
Manning and Buddy Rice. Driving for the single-car A.J. Foyt team, Manning
ran as high as third behind
Castroneves
and Dixon in the middle portion of the 100-lap contest, the strongest run for
a Foyt entry in the past three seasons. Locking rear brakes led to a spin on
Lap 75, but Manning recovered to finish 12th, just one lap down on the leaders.

Rice
started 13th after a disappointing qualifying run, but quickly improved, moving
into the top 10 almost immediately and battling with
former teammate Danica Patrick during the middle stages. Even after a link
in the right rear suspension failed with more than half the race remaining,
Rice
battled on as part of an entertaining multi-car scrap for sixth place that
also included Andretti, Patrick, Franchitti and Tomas Scheckter. A last lap
stop for
a splash of fuel dropped Rice from eighth to tenth at the checker, but it was
still a noteworthy performance for the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team.

After
opening the 2007 season with an oval race and street course on back-to-back
weekends in Florida, the IndyCar Series now heads to Japan for Honda's "home" race
at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit, a 1.5-mile oval located northeast of Tokyo,
on April 21st.IndyCar

Series Drivers' Championship (after 2 of 17 races)

Helio Castroneves (#3 Team Penske Honda) Started
1st, finished 1st, his 12th career IndyCar Series victory and second consecutive
win at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg: "It's
just incredible. I tell you what, you have to be so focused on this race track,
and make sure you don't mess anything up. And it seemed like every time
I managed to build up a bit of a lead, the caution flag would come out and
it would be gone! But I just kept focused, focused, focused, all day long,
getting
every corner perfect. Honda did a great job as always with the engine, and
my crew was great at all the pit stops. Toward the end of the race, the [transmission]
gears weren't able to come in and I had to hold on make sure I didn't
make any mistakes. But hey, we got the win, and it was great day for Team Penske."

Scott
Dixon (#9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) Started 4th, finished
2nd, takes over the early season drivers' championship lead with 80 points: "It
was a tough day. Our car was definitely faster than Helio's on cold tries,
but we didn't have anything for him on the longer runs. Our best bet
was to get them in the pits or on a restart, but we couldn't get it done
today. It's good to have a pair of strong finishes early in the season
and be leading the championship going to Japan."