Penske driver Ryan Briscoe drove a fast, smart race, waiting to make his move and moving with precision when his time came.
In a race filled with accidents and cautions, Briscoe avoided all the drama, kept the leader in sight, and took the lead with a perfectly executed pass.
He then fended off all challengers, holding on to take the checkered flag in his first St. Pete Grand Prix finish.
A Beautiful Place and a Beautiful Day for Racing
The course fronts on the beautiful blue waters of the St. Petersburg Yacht basin, where a collection of luxury yachts rock gently in the waves. Residents can watch the race while sipping drinks at a corner café, which just happens to be a few feet from corner Five.
The weather in St. Petersburg was perfect for racing; 83 degrees, a mild breeze, a few clouds, but no hint of rain. Attendance at the track was not affected by the financial turmoil; event organizers announced that they sold more tickets this year than last year.
A field of twenty-two cars took the green flag at 2:45 p.m. after orderly three pace laps. And immediately disorder ensued.
The Obligatory First-Lap Yellow
The field streaked down the front straight at speeds approaching 180 miles per hour, heading towards turn One, a fifty-mile-per-hour right-hander. Justin Wilson squeezed past Rahal, and Dario Franchitti followed him through. The cars were four wide at the entry to turn One; however, the racing line proved to be a bit narrower.
Tony Kanaan was forced over the curb on the inside of turn One and bounced into the back of Graham Rahal, spinning Rahal into the infield grass. Rahal bounced across the dirt and grass for a hundred yards before rejoining the field near turn Two, now in last place. Mike Conway, trying to avoid the spinning cars, contacted someone and ended up stalled at the pit lane entrance. Thus with less than a single turn completed, the initial race of the 209 IndyCar Series was under yellow—the third year in a row the first lap at St. Pete was run under a full-course caution.
Rahal said he was disappointed with Tony Kanaan. “He’s such a veteran, he has so much experience. It’s a shame someone would make a move like that on the first corner of the first race of the season.”
Kanaan said, “I feel sorry for Graham, but he got chopped up. Dario [Franchitti] dive-bombed and Graham tried to avoid himand he came to a stop. I couldn’t avoid him.”
After all the debris was picked up, Justin Wilson had the lead, followed by Franchitti, Ryan Briscoe, and Will Power. This general order lasted for the next forty minutes.
The Unfortunate Overenthusiastic Attempted Pass
On Lap 33 a series of incidents interrupted the routine. First Raphael Matos rammed Danica Patrick coming through turn Ten. Matos tried to dive underneath Danica, but didn’t get the position. Danica held her line, expecting Matos to give way, as his passing attempt was unsuccessful.
Instead, Matos plowed right into the side of Danica’s car, sending them both into the tire barriers with a fair amount of force.
A surprisingly calm Danica Patrick described the incident: “There s not enough room for two people … its just not an ideal spot to try to make something happen. I saw him, he just wasn’t all the way up next to me… it was just a freak maneuver, that didn’t make it.”
Raphael Matos saw the situation somewhat differently. “Danica made a big mistake passing a lapped car, and I had a really good run on her. I thought she’d give me enough room to pass, but she didn’t. We just had a very unfortunate racing incident.”
In an unrelated incident, Hideki Mutoh and Mario Moraes came together in turn Four. Mutoh was able to continue, but Moraes stalled on the track. The pair of accidents brought out a yellow.
When the pits opened on lap 35, several drivers took advantage of the yellow to change tires or take on fuel. Defending series champion Scott Dixon locked up his brakes and overshot his pits; his crew had to drag the car back into his pit box. Then the crew had a tough time getting the fuel hose attached, and had to move the car a little more. The whole affair cost Dixon quite a bit of time.
At the halfway point, Penske driver Ryan Briscoe held an eight-tenths-of-a second lead over the pack. Behind him were Dan Wheldon, Justin Wilson and Ryan Hunter-Reay.
‘I Saw the Opportunity’
After a series of green-flag pit stops, Justin Wilson inherited the lead on lap 71, with Briscoe half a second behind him.
On lap 80 Scott Dixon came together with Hideki Mutoh, damaging Dixon’s left front suspension. Dixon, unable to steer, hit the tire barrier at turn Three. This brought out yet another yellow.
On the restart on lap 86, Ryan Briscoe made a beautiful, clean pass going into turn One to take the lead from Justin Wilson.
“Second place would have been a great finish, but I saw the opportunity to go for the win,” Briscoe explained at the post-race press conference.
Justin Wilson then ran a tiny bit wide at turn Four, and Ryan Hunter-Reay seized the opportunity and second place.
Moments later, two separate incidents brought out another caution.
Accidents Abound
Dan Wheldon tried to squeeze past Tony Kanaan, backed off, and gave an opening to Robert Doornbos. Doornboss tried to dive through, but had too much speed and sent Wheldon off hard. At the same time, Marco Andretti and teamamate Hideki Mutoh had a coming together, ending Mutoh’s race.
The race restarted on lap 92, but only made it three more laps before Marco Andretti and Alex Tagliani came together in turn Ten. Alex Tagliani tried to squeeze inside Marco Andretti coming into Ten, but hesitated. Tagliani didn’t couldn’t push past, but he didn’t back off, hitting Andretti and spinning him around, stopping him on the course. This seventh full-course caution set the record for St. Pete.
The green flag came out on lap 98, and despite everything Ryan Hunter-Reay could do, Briscoe held onto the lead and took the win, the third of his career.
Graham Rahal never really got the chance to defend his title after the first-lap incident, but he drove a respectable race, coming back from last place to finish seventh.
At the post-race press conference, Ryan Hunter Reay and Justin Wilson joked about having been unemployed shortly before the race. Wilson was signed a month ago by Dale Coyne Racing, and Hunter-Reay was signed only five days ago by Vision Racing—the team hadn’t even had time to put sponsorship decals on his car.
The two drivers gave their respective teams the best finishes either team had ever had in IndyCar racing.
