2014 - Round 1 - St. Petersburg -30.3.2014

[steveaki13]

Round 1 today. I thought someone would have opened a thread, but it appears not.

Just thought I would open one. Hope no one minds.

Sato securing Pole
FIRESTONE FAST SIX
1. 14-Takuma Sato, 1:01.8686, 104.738 miles per hour
2. 10-Tony Kanaan, 1:02.1637, 104.241
3. 28-Ryan Hunter-Reay, 1:02.2167, 104.152
4. 12-Will Power, 1:02.3955, 103.854
5. 9-Scott Dixon, 1:02.4454, 103.771
6. 25-Marco Andretti, 1:02.9595, 102.923
ELIMINATED IN ROUND TWO
7. 34-Carlos Munoz (R), 1:03.3955, 102.214
8. 98-Jack Hawksworth (R), 1:03.5738, 101.929
9. 8-Ryan Briscoe, 1:03.6206, 101.854
10. 3-Helio Castroneves, 1:03.6635, 101.785
11. 17-Sebastian Saavedra, 1:03.8374, 101.508
12. 20-Mike Conway, 1:03.9618, 101.310
ELIMINATED IN ROUND ONE
13. 11-Sebastien Bourdais, 1:15.8337, 85.450 (Group 1)
14. 77-Simon Pagenaud, 1:12.3741, 89.535 (Group 2)
15. 7-Mikhail Aleshin (R), 1:15.9111, 85.363 (Group 1)
16. 19-Justin Wilson, 1:12.5890, 89.270 (Group 2)
17. 18-Carlos Huertas (R), 1:16.8105, 84.363 (Group 1)
18. 2-Juan Pablo Montoya, 1:12.6994, 89.134 (Group 2)
19. 27-James Hinchcliffe, 2.34.4862, 41.945 (Group 1)
20. 83-Charlie Kimball, 1:13.0048, 88.761 (Group 2)
21. 15-Graham Rahal, No Time, No Speed (Group 1)
22. 67-Josef Newgarden, 1:13.1170, 88.625 (Group 2)

[steveaki13]

Wow.

Tumble weed moment today.......

I am having to watch slightly delayed.

Shame Sato has lost the lead and Montoya is falling like a stone. I am 42 laps in. I must only be about 15 minutes behind now, if that.

[steveaki13]

A win for Will Power then. Despite slowing the field after the caution and causing a pile up.

Not one other poster on the Indy car race. Oh well I will chat to myself

[heliocastroneves#3]

Great to see you have become an IndyCar fan. :D I've been following this sport for a long while. Yesterdays' race was very enjoyable but I have seen better St. Pete races in the past. Congrats to Will Power on winning this race for the second time of his career! :)

[zako85]

I thought the race was a bit boring. Will Power on Sato was the most definitive overtake of the race. After that, the rest was more of the same, sort of like the F1 races of this year.

[Starter]

I missed this one. I was away for the weekend and didn't record it (didn't record F1 either). I was surprised to see some of the names in the bottom qualifying group. Guess a few teams and drivers have some work to do.

[steveaki13]

I thought the race was a bit boring. Will Power on Sato was the most definitive overtake of the race. After that, the rest was more of the same, sort of like the F1 races of this year.

Will Powers move on Sato indeed was the moment of the race.

I also thought Wilson drove well in the middle stint. He was 14th or 15th and during the mid race stint he rose to 6th.

[steveaki13]

Great to see you have become an IndyCar fan. :D I've been following this sport for a long while. Yesterdays' race was very enjoyable but I have seen better St. Pete races in the past. Congrats to Will Power on winning this race for the second time of his career! :)

Thanks. I enjoyed the race too. I have watched a couple of St. Petersburg races before too, but never followed a season.

That's the aim for 2014.

[champcarray]

Any word on what was up with Hinch? He qualified poorly and started poorly, yet he finished only 1 lap down. I was surprised it went that "well."

[zako85]

I was surprised not to see JR Hildebrand in the race. He is a young American, so that should automatically add so cachet. On the other hand, he did relatively poorly since Indy 500 in 2011. I heard he will be running in 2014 Indy 500 again, so I wish him best luck and a chance to redeem himself.

[FIAT1]

SP race was pretty good. Racing green most of the race, well it was a pleasant surprise.