Race Report: Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
 The
Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg took place under sunny skies and
in front of full grandstands as the IRL IndyCar Series made its
first ever appearance on a street course. He saw the 1.9 mile,
14-turn street course from his cockpit for the first time on Friday
morning.
"The promoters did a nice job with the facility but the track is
pretty challenging," said Foyt IV. "There isn't much room for error
because if you make a slight mistake, you'll be in the wall."
A.J. Foyt IV began the race with just one goal in mind--survive to
the finish. As a raw rookie to street racing, A.J. IV knew that a
finish would have been a personal victory of sorts.
Unfortunately, impatience on the part of veteran Helio Castroneves
cost both of them dearly.
Foyt IV started 21st in the event having not posted a qualifying
time due to problems with the shifting mechanism in his
Toyota-powered Panoz. In the race, he was running with fellow ‘road
course rookie' Ed Carpenter when the leaders caught them in the back
half of the course.
Foyt IV moved over to let several leaders pass but when Castroneves
made an aggressive move to pass, he ran over the rumble strips and
slid into Foyt IV, sending both cars careering across the track and
out of the race.
"I knew we weren't going to run up front so we were just trying to
survive," said Foyt IV afterwards. "I let several of the leaders by
but Helio ran up on me at a bad part of the kink and we made
contact. I'm disappointed for both of us because I needed the
experience and he had a chance to win the race. We'll put it behind
us and focus on Japan."
Foyt IV's No. 14 sustained damage to the left rear suspension, rear
wing and front nose assembly. Foyt IV's day began with a shunt in
the morning's final practice necessitating a new nose on the 14.
However, Foyt was not alone in his trials as half the field of
competitors found themselves in either the wall or the tire barriers
over the course of the weekend.
Eight of the 21 starters were knocked out of the race due to
accidents.
Andretti-Green Racing swept the top four positions with Dan Wheldon
winning his second race of the year. Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti
and pole winner Bryan Herta rounded out the top four. Vitor Meira
finished fifth.
The next race is the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi, a1.5-mile
oval located about two hours north of Tokyo. The race will broadcast
on ESPN on Saturday, April 30 at 12 noon.
NOTES & QUOTES: Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
A.J. Foyt IV: No. 48 Panoz/Toyota/Firestone
A.J. Foyt IV on street racing: "It's going to be real
challenging for me because I have never competed in a street race,
although I did a little road racing in the Formula Continental Series
back in 2001. In the IRL, about half of the guys I'm racing against
have grown up doing road racing, so I'm a little behind starting off.
I'll approach the street course in St. Pete like I do any other race
track and that's to run where I feel comfortable. As I get more
comfortable, I'll get faster. With street or road racing, I know you
have to take care of the gearbox because there's a lot of shifting
each lap. In St. Pete it'll be as much as 30 shifts per lap. The track
will probably be rough so the car will be bouncing a lot under braking
and you have to take that into account too. For the race, I'm going to
patient, take care of my equipment and try to get through the whole
race. From what I've seen of other street races, if you finish the
race, you'll have a good finish."
Foyt IV will be driving a different car this weekend in St.
Petersburg. The team has entered the No. 48 Panoz/Toyota for this
weekend's event. The car is the same solid Coyote red color that A.J.
Foyt became so closely identified with during his Indy car career. The
number holds significance for Foyt who is celebrating his 48th
anniversary of Indy car racing this year, having begun his career in
1957 at Springfield, Ill. Moreover, this year's Indianapolis 500 will
mark Foyt's 48th straight Indy 500 in which he has participated as a
driver and/or a team owner.
Foyt IV finished 14th in the XM Satellite Radio Indy 200 at
Phoenix International Raceway on March 19th. He is currently tied for
12th in the IRL IndyCar Series standings.
The Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be broadcast live
by ESPN this Sunday, April 3rd at 3:30pm Eastern Time.
In 2005, Foyt IV's best finish is 9th which is a career best
and it came in the season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In 2004,
Foyt IV's best start was 6th (at Chicagoland Speedway) and his best
finish was 10th at Texas Motor Speedway. He finished 18th in the
IndyCar Series standings. |
