Schmidt Team Dominates First Race of St. Petersburg Grand Prix
by Allan Brewer
allan@indyproracer.com
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Alex Lloyd at St. Pete. Photo: JimHainesIRL |
Alex Lloyd sprinted to the front and held off Hideki Mutoh for victory on Saturday (March 31st), in the first of two Grand Prix of St. Petersburg races as the Indy Pro Series conducts its first double-header race weekend on the streets by the Florida Gulf Coast. The second race of the IPS season produced nearly more yellow than clean green, as inexperience and aggressive driving may be driving the incident count higher. The racers will line up in inverted order of finish (top six) for Sunday's concluding race of this southern swing.
The week-long festival that is the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg partied on with the first race of a double-header weekend for the Indy Pro Series on Saturday (March 31st).
Sam Schmidt Motorsport’s Alex Lloyd led from nearly start to finish, pulling away from second place Hideki Mutoh of Super Aguri/Panther Racing, and putting a yawning gap between himself and the rest of the field.
Inexperience, Young Blood Keeps Racing Action Hot
The race was punctuated with a number of accidents, all of them minor, as a young field continues to feel its way into the new season.
Afterwards Lloyd offered an opinion, other than the fifteen "rookie" starters at St. Pete, of why the Indy Pro Series might have suffered another overly yellow-laden race.
“Jay Howard tried to run me off the track (on a restart) but it backfired on him as these things usually do when you try and not play within the rules,” he said. “It was a bit of scare but we got through. The Lucas Oil car was perfect, the balance was perfect and I could look after my tires. The last couple of laps I took it easy just to be sure I brought the win home.”
With the team's second straight victory of the 2007 season, Lloyd now moves to the outside of row three for Sunday’s race start.
“The concern is when you’re back in sixth anything can happen. You can be involved in accidents. I want to keep out of trouble and still contend for the win tomorrow.”
While the gap to second was only 1.6 seconds, Mutoh stretched to a more than seven second lead ahead of the rest of the pack.
Team Moore's Jonathan Klein finished third, with Kenn Hardley Racing’s Stephen Simpson and Speedworks' Jay Howard rounding out the top five.
Bobby Wilson of Brian Stewart Racing was sixth with an aggressively-driven race, followed by Robbie Pecorari of Team KMA, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Chris Festa, AFS Racing's Wade Cunningham and CR Crews of Michael Crawford Motorsports.
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Under Caution. Photo: JimHainesIRL |
A first-lap accident knocked Phil Giebler out of the race, as Giebler and Matt Jaskol got together going into turn one when Jaskol rear-ended the Playa Del Racing driver.
Andretti Green Racing/AFS Racing’s Jaime Camara emulated AGR mentor Tony Kanaan, and smacked the wall at nearly the same location on the course, as he collided with the tire barrier in turn four during both qualifying and in the race. He was pinched on the race’s third lap by Bobby Wilson’s overtaking move that brought out a four-lap yellow for car removal.
They were joined by Mickey Gilbert, Logan Gomez (spin) Richard Antinucci (stall going into turn one) in bringing out the yellow flag globally or locally for nearly half the laps of the race.
On-Track Mishaps Continue to Mar Series' Season Start
Sean Guthrie wound up on the “rumble bumps” on the next to last lap of the race, while Wade Cunningham and Robbie Pecorari tangled on the very last turn of the race, spinning the series' 2005 champion into the infield and damaging the nose portion of Pecorari’s car.
The race played out under hazy blue skies with an ambient temperature near eighty degrees and ten mile per hour breezes from the east.
Lloyd's average pace for the event was 75.805 mph, some twenty miles an hour slower than the field qualified.
Officially fourteen laps of the race were run under yellow flag.
The win is Lloyd's third in the last four Indy Pro Series races, and the fifteenth Sam Schmidt Motorsports victory in series participation.
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Hideki Mutoh at St. Pete. Photo: JimHainesIRL |
Hidekia Mutoh's performance was all the more remarkable given his start in twenty-fourth position, dead last.
“After the last practice, we had to change an engine and go to the back of the starting lineup," he said. "It was a tough race, but I'm happy with the results.”
Mutoh finished third in the Homestead race, immediately behind Festa in the accident-shortened event.
Saturday's victory pushed the Japanese racer into second place in the season championship standings, with seventy-five points, second to Alex Lloyd's total of 105 points. Chris Festa moves to third with sixty-five points for the season so far.
The cars will line up in inverted order of the first six finishers for Sunday’s (April 1st) 40-lap race.
Indy Pro Series Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Race One Results
Indy Pro Series Cumulative Results 2007
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