Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

IndyCar Series
Location	St. Petersburg, Florida, USA 27°45′59″N 82°37′45″W
Corporate sponsor	Honda
First race	1985
First IndyCar race	2005
Distance	198 mi (319 km)
Laps	110
Previous names	St. Petersburg Grand Prix (1985-1990) Kash n' Karry Florida Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (1996-1997) Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (2003)
Most wins (driver)	Hélio Castroneves (3)
Most wins (team)	Team Penske (5)
Most wins (manufacturer)	Dallara (6) Honda (6)
Circuit information
Surface	Asphalt/Concrete
Length	1.8 mi (2.9 km)
Turns	14
Lap record	Sébastien Bourdais (1:00.928, Lola B02/00-Ford Cosworth, 2003, Champ Car)

The Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is an IndyCar Series race held in St. Petersburg, Florida.

History

The SCCA Trans-Am Series held an automobile race on a St. Petersburg downtown waterfront circuit from 1985-1990. Local residents and businesses complained about noise, and the event was put on hiatus. Racing in the Tampa Bay Area also included an IMSA race at the Florida State Fairgrounds from 1989–1990.

In 1996-1997, the St. Petersburg race was revived on a course around Tropicana Field. Along with the Trans-Am Series, support races included U.S. FF2000, World Challenge, Pro SRF, and Barber Dodge. The event subsequently went again on hiatus for several years.

In 2003, the event was revived again, initally as a Champ Car event in 2003 utilizing a modified version of the original 1985–90 waterfront circuit.

For 2004, the event was cancelled due to a dispute between the promoters. When the race returned in 2005, it switched to the IndyCar Series, marking the first non-oval event for the Indy Racing League. In 2007, the race weekend was expanded to include an ALMS event.

Organizers announced during 2008 race that Andretti Green Promotions, the organization that owns and operates the event, signed a contract extension with the city of St. Petersburg through 2013, and city officials hope to extend it through 2014.

Past winners

Season	Date	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)	Report
						Laps	Miles (km)
CART World Series history
2003	Feb 23	Paul Tracy	Forsythe Racing	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	105	189.63 (305.179)	2:04:28	91.401	Report
IRL IndyCar Series history
2005	April 3	Dan Wheldon	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda	100	180 (289.681)	2:09:54	83.14	Report
2006	April 2	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	100	180 (289.681)	1:56:58	92.34	Report
2007	April 1	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	100	180 (289.681)	2:01:07	89.166	Report
2008	April 6	Graham Rahal	Newman/Haas Racing	Dallara	Honda	83*	149.4 (240.435)	2:00:44	74.251	Report
2009	April 5	Ryan Briscoe	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	100	180 (289.681)	2:12:27	81.542	Report
2010	March 29*	Will Power	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	100	180 (289.681)	2:07:06	84.975	Report
2011	March 27	Dario Franchitti	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	100	180 (289.681)	2:01:00	89.26	Report
2012	March 25	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Dallara	Chevrolet	100	180 (289.681)	1:59:51	90.113	Report
2013	March 24	James Hinchcliffe	Andretti Autosport	Dallara	Chevrolet	110	198 (318.65)	2:22:13	83.539	Report

• 2008: Race shortened as a result of inclement weather at the start forcing the race to start on Lap 10 after nine Safety Car laps. Shortened by ESPN under time limit.
• 2010: Race postponed from March 28 due to inclement weather.

Firestone Indy Lights Series

Stefan Wilson driving along the Bay Shore Drive SE section during the qualifying race of the Indy Lights 2011.

Season	Date	Winning Driver	Chassis	Engine
2005	April 3	Marco Andretti	Dallara	Infiniti
2006	April 1 (1st race)	Raphael Matos	Dallara	Infiniti
	April 2 (2nd race)	Raphael Matos	Dallara	Infiniti
2007	March 31 (1st race)	Alex Lloyd	Dallara	Infiniti
	April 1 (2nd race)	Alex Lloyd	Dallara	Infiniti
2008	April 5 (1st race)	Raphael Matos	Dallara	Infiniti
	April 6 (2nd race)	Richard Antinucci	Dallara	Infiniti
2009	April 4 (1st race)	Junior Strous	Dallara	Infiniti
	April 5 (2nd race)	Junior Strous	Dallara	Infiniti
2010	March 28	Jean Karl Vernay	Dallara	Infiniti
2011	March 27	Josef Newgarden	Dallara	Honda
2012	March 24	Tristan Vautier	Dallara	Honda
2013	March 23	Jack Hawksworth	Dallara	Honda

American Le Mans Series

Overall winner in bold.

Season	LMP1 Winning Team	LMP2 Winning Team	GT1 Winning Team	GT2 Winning Team	Report
	LMP1 Winning Drivers	LMP2 Winning Drivers	GT1 Winning Drivers	GT2 Winning Drivers
2007	#1 Audi Sport North America	#6 Penske Racing	#4 Corvette Racing	#62 Risi Competizione	report
	Rinaldo Capello Allan McNish	Sascha Maassen Ryan Briscoe	Oliver Gavin Olivier Beretta	Mika Salo Jaime Melo
2008	#2 Audi Sport North America	#7 Penske Racing	#4 Corvette Racing	#71 Tafel Racing	report
	Marco Werner Lucas Luhr	Timo Bernhard Romain Dumas	Olivier Beretta Oliver Gavin	Dominik Farnbacher Dirk Müller
2009	#9 Patrón Highcroft Racing	#15 Lowe's Fernández Racing	No entry	#45 Flying Lizard Motorsports	report
	David Brabham Scott Sharp	Adrian Fernández Luis Díaz	No entry	Patrick Long Jörg Bergmeister

SCCA Trans-Am

• 1985 Willy T. Ribbs
• 1986 Pete Halsmer
• 1987 Scott Pruett
• 1988 Walter Röhrl
• 1989 Irv Hoerr
• 1990 Chris Kneifel
• 1996 Ron Fellows
• 1997 Tommy Kendall
• 2003 Scott Pruett

IMSA (fairgrounds)

• 1989 Price Cobb
• 1990 James Weaver

Course

The Streets of St. Petersburg course is a street circuit connecting existing roads with one of the two landing strips of Albert Whitted Airport in St. Petersburg, Florida. It also dips into the parking lot at Progress Energy Park.

First bayfront course

The original 1985 Trans-Am course utilized a similar layout to the course used today. For the first year the track actually ran out to the pier, made a 180 degree turn and returned. At the end of Bayshore Drive, rather than diverting off to the airport runways, the course circled around 5th Avenue Southeast around Bayfront Arena, and the start/finish line was located just south of the paddock (the parking lot of Bayfront Arena). In addition, the old course traveled further up Beach Drive Northeast, all the way to 5th Avenue Northeast. 5th Ave. NE was a very narrow segment. The course came south down Bayshore Drive Northeast, and passed by The Pier.

Tropicana Field course

The second course at Tropicana Field was located about a mile west of the waterfront location. The circuit used the roads around the perimeter of the parking lot of the stadium.

Second Bayfront course

When the course was reconfigured, the northbound segment turned at Central Avenue instead, and did not go as far as The Pier. The pits and main straight were moved to the airport, and a paddock area was paved next to the runway. The Albert Whitted park was reconfigured/relocated, and the entire course layout was repaved.

The pits and paddock areas, as well as link from Dan Wheldon Way to the airport runway (turns 11, 12, and 13) were constructed specifically for the circuit in 2003, and are considered permanent features of the otherwise temporary circuit.

After the 2011 INDYCAR Las Vegas crash that killed Snell Isle resident Dan Wheldon, who won the 2005 race and two Indianapolis 500 titles, the straight following Turn 10 (the turn from Bayshore Drive to Albert Whitted Park) was renamed "Dan Wheldon Way" in his memory. The sign and commemorative plaque was unveiled by St. Pete mayor Bill Foster on March 6, 2012.

• 

  The circuit layout from 1985 to 1991

• 

  The circuit layout from 1996 to 2000

• 

  The circuit layout from 2003 to present

Telecast History

Season	Date	US TV Channel	Lay-by-lap	Driver Analyst(s)	Pit Reporters
2003	February 23	Speed Channel	Bob Varsha	Tommy Kendall	Calvin Fish Scott Pruett Derek Daly
2005	April 3	ESPN	Todd Harris	Scott Goodyear	Jack Arute Dr. Jerry Punch Jamie Little
2006	April 2		Marty Reid	Scott Goodyear Rusty Wallace
2007	April 1			Scott Goodyear	Jack Arute Vince Welch Brienne Pedigo
2008	April 6
2009	April 5	Versus	Bob Jenkins	Jon Beekhuis Robbie Buhl	Jack Arute Robbie Floyd Lindy Thackston
2010	March 28 & 29	ABC ESPN2	Marty Reid	Scott Goodyear	Jamie Little Rick DeBruhl Vince Welch
2011	March 28	ABC
2012	March 25
2013	March 2	NBC Sports	Leigh Diffey	Wally Dallenbach, Jr Townsend Bell	Kevin Lee Robbie Floyd Jon Beekhuis Robin Miller

References

• Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg's website
• City has had false starts with racing
• Grand Prix circuit track maps of all three layouts

Preceded by -

Current IndyCar Series races

Succeeded by Indy Grand Prix of Alabama