Juan Pablo Montoya celebrates in victory lane after winning Sunday’s IndyCar 2016 season opener on the St. Petersburg street circuit. Photo by Chris Jones
The 50th anniversary celebration season for Team Penske is off to a rousing start.
Verizon Team Penske driver Juan Pablo Montoya controlled the closing laps of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to win the Verizon IndyCar Series season opener for the second straight year.
Driving the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, Montoya led teammate Simon Pagenaud across the finish line by 2.3306 seconds, with Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay placing third and Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves fourth on the 1.8-mile temporary street course.
Montoya’s 15th career Indy car win ties him with Alex Zanardi for 31st on the career chart. It is also the 179th victory for Team Penske in Indy car racing, the most of any team in history, and eighth for Roger Penske’s outfit in the 13-race St. Petersburg history.
“It was good,” said Montoya, who lost the 2015 series championship on a race wins tiebreaker to Scott Dixon. “The Chevy was good all day. It was exciting to have a new paint scheme (on his car) and come out and win with it. It’s just awesome. We started the year last year like this. I felt this morning we had a really good car and it paid off.”
Pagenaud, in the No. 22 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Chevrolet, started from the pole position and led 48 laps of the 110-lap race. The Frenchman’s second-place finish was his best in four starts on the St. Petersburg street course, but he lamented Montoya passing him on Lap 64 as the turning point.
“Overall it was a great day,” Pagenaud said. “If you compare to last year, it’s been a massive improvement on the whole 22 crew. I’m super proud to represent HPE in our first race and be here on the podium in second place, leading the race for a while.
“But, yeah, Montoya is an old dog. He found a little good trick on me. I made one tiny little mistake and it lost me the race.”
The only thing missing from Team Penske’s race domination was Will Power, who took ill after claiming the Verizon P1 Award for winning the pole position on Saturday. Upon re-examination by the INDYCAR medical team this morning, Power was diagnosed with a mild concussion. INDYCAR released the following statement:
“Following his on-track incident on Friday, Will Power displayed no signs of injury and was evaluated and cleared by the INDYCAR medical team. Per INDYCAR protocol, we also evaluated the data collected from his ear accelerometers, which provides data specific to the impact on a driver’s head, and nothing gathered from that data indicated further evaluation was required.
“After learning of Will’s symptoms following qualifications Saturday, he was required to submit to another evaluation by INDYCAR Medical Director Dr. Geoffrey Billows, at which point he was diagnosed with a mild concussion. Power has been entered into INDYCAR’s concussion protocol and will need to be re-evaluated prior to being cleared to drive.”
Power was replaced in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet by Oriol Servia, who started last in the 22-car field by rule. Servia was involved in a mid-race multi-car pileup and finished 18th.
Verizon IndyCar Series rookie Conor Daly led a career-best 15 laps midway through the event while on an alternate pit strategy. Daly, driving the No. 18 Jonathan Byrd’s Hospitality Honda for Dale Coyne Racing, finished 13th.
The race saw just two full-course yellow conditions, tying a St. Pete record for fewest in a race. One yellow was due to a multi-car logjam triggered when the cars of Castroneves and Dixon touched but kept going. Behind them, the No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda of Carlos Munoz ran into the rear of the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Steak ‘n Shake Honda of Graham Rahal on lap 57. Nearly 10 cars blocked the track until the Holmatro Safety Team could clear a path for them to rejoin the action.
The next race on the Verizon IndyCar Series schedule is the Phoenix Grand Prix on April 1-2. It marks the series’ return to Phoenix International Raceway following an 11-year absence with the April 2 race under the lights.
Verizon IndyCar Series
St. Petersburg Street Circuit – St. Petersburg, FL
Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg – March 13, 2016
1. (3) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 110, Running
2. (1) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 110, Running
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4. (2) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 110, Running
5. (17) Mikhail Aleshin, Honda, 110, Running
6. (10) Takuma Sato, Honda, 110, Running
7. (4) Scott Dixon, Chevrolet, 110, Running
8. (12) Carlos Munoz, Honda, 110, Running
9. (19) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 110, Running
10. (13) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 109, Contact
11. (9) Jack Hawksworth, Honda, 109, Running
12. (18) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 109, Running
13. (20) Conor Daly, Honda, 109, Running
14. (21) Spencer Pigot, Honda, 109, Running
15. (14) Marco Andretti, Honda, 109, Running
16. (6) Graham Rahal, Honda, 109, Running
17. (16) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 109, Running
18. (22) Oriol Servia, Chevrolet, 109, Running
19. (8) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 109, Running
20. (15) Luca Filippi, Honda, 108, Running
21. (7) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 87, Contact
22. (11) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 47, Electrical
Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 89.006 mph
Time of Race: 02:13:28.4650
Margin of victory: 2.3306 seconds
Cautions: 2 for 16 laps
Lead changes: 4 among 4 drivers
Lap Leaders: Pagenaud 1 – 48, Daly 49 – 63, Montoya 64 – 81, Hunter-Reay 82-84, Montoya 85 – 110
Verizon IndyCar Series Point Standings: Montoya 51, Pagenaud 43, Hunter-Reay 36, Castroneves 32, Aleshin 30, Sato 28, Dixon 26, Munoz 24, Kanaan 22, Kimball 20.
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