The 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season begins this weekend
with the Firestone Grand Prix at St. Petersburg through the streets of downtown
St. Petersburg and the runway of Albert Whitted Airport. This marks the ninth
time the series has opened its season on the Florida city’s streets, and eighth
consecutive year, dating back to 2011.
Here’s a quick look at some interesting statistics and
tidbits heading into the weekend.
- This weekend’s race marks the 29th time for the series in
the state of Florida, and 15th at the temporary St. Petersburg street circuit.
The first race ever for the series in 1996 came at the one-mile Walt Disney
World Speedway in Orlando, won by Buzz Calkins.
- Overall, since 1911, Championship Car and IndyCar racing
has visited the Sunshine State a total of 43 times; this weekend’s race will be
the 44th. Louis Disbrow won a 100-mile race on the beach in Jacksonville on
March 28, 1911; the was the last race held during the 1911 AAA National
Championship season before the inaugural Indianapolis 500.
- With its 15th IndyCar race this weekend (14 in the
IRL/IndyCar Series, one in CART), the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will tie
Homestead-Miami Speedway as the track with the most IndyCar races held at a
single track in Florida. Homestead held 15 races: 10 for the IRL and IndyCar Series, and
five for CART.
- St. Petersburg holds the record for a track hosting the
IndyCar Series season-opener, with nine. Homestead-Miami Speedway is second with
seven.
- Helio Castroneves leads all drivers with three victories
at St. Petersburg (2006, 2007 and 2012). Will Power and Juan Pablo Montoya are
two-time race winners. The three drivers account for seven of Team Penske’s
record victories at the track (Ryan Briscoe earned his only win in 2009, for
The Captain).
- Paul Tracy won the 2003 and inaugural St. Petersburg race,
part of the Champ Car World Series. Dan Wheldon won the first IRL race, in
2005. Altogether, 10 drivers have won the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in
IndyCar competition.
- Sebastien Bourdais, the defending race winner, was the only
driver to win the race after starting outside the top 10. Bourdais came from
21st (last) to win the race. He became the first driver since Scott Dixon in
the 2014 race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington to win an IndyCar race
after starting last. In fact, Bourdais is the only driver in IndyCar Series
history to win a race on a temporary street circuit after starting last (no
driver had ever accomplished the feat in CART/Champ Car World Series).
- Bourdais’s victory at St. Petersburg was the first of his
career at the track, fifth in the Verizon IndyCar Series, and 36th in IndyCar
racing, breaking a tie with Bobby Unser. That put him into sole possession of
sixth place all-time. Bourdais is three victories behind Al Unser Sr. for fifth
place all-time, and the second-highest European-born driver on the IndyCar wins
list (Mario Andretti was born in Italy). Bourdais’s 2017 victory gave him at
least one victory in four consecutive IndyCar Series seasons.
- Four drivers have won at St. Petersburg and gone on to win
the series championship in the same season: Paul Tracy (2003 CCWS); Dan Wheldon
(2005 IRL); Dario Franchitti (2011 IndyCar Series); and Will Power (2014
IndyCar Series).
- The last driver to win consecutive races at St. Petersburg
was Juan Pablo Montoya, in 2015 and 2016.
- Will Power led six consecutive Grand Prix of St.
Petersburg races, between 2010 and 2016. That’s the highest mark, both overall
and in succession.
- Simon Pagenaud, who is looking to win the Grand Prix of
St. Petersburg for the first time in IndyCar competition, is the only driver to
lead each of the last three races. He’s finished second in 2016 and 2017, and
fifth in 2015.
- The 2008 and 2010 races featured race-records for number
of leaders, with eight each.
- Graham Rahal (2008) and James Hinchcliffe (2013) each
earned their first career IndyCar Series race victories in the Grand Prix of
St. Petersburg. For Rahal, it was his second Indy car win, as he had previously
won in the Champ Car World Series.
- Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan have competed in all 13 Grand
Prix of St. Petersburg under IndyCar Series/Indy Racing League sanctioning,
both drivers were in the IRL/ICS when the CCWS race at St. Petersburg occurred
in 2003. However, neither has won. Dixon has three second-place finishes (2006,
2007 and 2012), and his 13 races at the track are the most of any track that he’s
contested in the series without a win. Meanwhile, Kanaan has six podiums,
including four straight between 2005 and 2008, and a best finish of second in
2005. For Kanaan, the only tracks he’s raced at more in Indy cars without a win
are Mid-Ohio (16 races); Toronto (15 races); Belle Isle (15 races); and Long
Beach (14 races).
- Honda leads all manufacturers at the Grand Prix of St.
Petersburg with eight victories, followed by Chevrolet with five. Honda ended
Chevrolet’s five-race winning streak last season, and its first since the final
of a seven-race winning streak in 2011. Ford won in the 2003 CCWS race.
- Seven of the 13 IndyCar Series races at St. Petersburg
have been won by the driver leading the most laps. Helio Castroneves holds the
record for most laps led in a race by the winner: 95 (of the 100 laps in 2007). Will Power holds the record for most
laps led by a non-winner: 75 (of the 110 laps in 2015). Dan Wheldon holds the
record for fewest laps led by a race winner: 10 (of the 100 laps in 2005).
- Only two drivers in the 14 races overall have won the from
the pole position: Helio Castroneves in 2007 and Will Power in 2010.
- The largest field in the history of the race came in 2008
and 2012, with 26 cars. A total of 24 cars are entered in this weekend’s race.
- Sebastien Bourdais’s win last year came at a record-pace
of 95.391 mph.
- Simon Pagenaud holds the pole speed record, at 107.561 mph
in 2016.
- Graham Rahal won the only race-shortened Grand Prix of St.
Petersburg, cut from 100 to 83 laps due to a time limit in 2008.
- Scott Dixon is making his 249th IndyCar Series start, one off
the 250-race mark. Tony Kanaan reached that milestone last September at Sonoma
Raceway in California. Sebastien Bourdais is competing in his 99th IndyCar
Series race, one off the 100-race mark.
- Spencer Pigot is from Orlando, the only driver born in Florida.
Ryan Hunter-Reay has called Fort Lauderdale home for many years.
- Four drivers will make their IndyCar Series debuts this
weekend: Matheus Leist (Brazil); Robert Wickens (Canada); Jordan King (United
Kingdom); and Rene Binder (Austria). A total of seven drivers are competing as
Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidates; the other three drivers have competed
before in at least one race: Zachary Claman de Melo (Canada); Zach Veach
(United States); and Jack Harvey (United Kingdom). All seven drivers are
competing for the first time in an IndyCar at St. Petersburg.
- Three Canadians are entered in this weekend’s race: James
Hinchcliffe, Robert Wickens and Zachary Claman de Melo. The last time three
Canadians competed in the same IndyCar Series race was the 2014 Indianapolis
500, with Hinchcliffe, Alex Tagliani and Jacques Villeneuve.
- Josef Newgarden is the last driver to win back-to-back
races in the IndyCar Series, having won last year’s events at Exhibition Place
in Toronto, Ontario, and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington. Newgarden is
the defending series champion, and has led 10 consecutive IndyCar Series races,
dating back to the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, Race #2.
- Marco Andretti (2005), Josef Newgarden (2011), Zach Veach
(2014) and Ed Jones (twice in 2015) have all won Indy Lights Series races at
the track, and all are entered in the IndyCar Series race this weekend, all
seeking their first series track victory.
- Rookie Rene Binder will be the first driver from Austria
to compete in an IndyCar Series race in history. The last Austrian to compete
in an Indy car was Hubert Stromberger, who made his only appearance in a CART
race in the 1995 event at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. He finished 16th, one lap down.
- Eleven countries/nationalities are represented in this
weekend’s race: United States (8), Canada (3), United Kingdom (3), Brazil (2),
France (2), New Zealand (1), Australia (1), United Arab Emirates (1), Japan
(1), Colombia (1) and Austria (1).
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