Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Tag

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Robert Wickens intended to impress on his Verizon IndyCar Series debut and impress the rookie did, scoring pole position and nearly winning Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The 28-year-old Canadian beat Team Penske’s Will Power to the pole and led the first five laps until another rookie, Jordan King, took over after an early restart. Wickens repaid King’s favor on the next restart and led until the No. 6 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda made its way to pit lane on Lap 25. The 2011Read More

By Road to Indy ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – More than four years after winning two races in the 2013 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, Anglo-Frenchman Alexandre “Alex” Baron marked his return with the new Swan-RJB Motorsports team by scoring an impressive victory from the pole in this afternoon’s Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Allied Building Products. Japanese-born Brazilian Igor Fraga (Exclusive Autosport) and fellow countryman Lucas Kohl (Pabst Racing) finished second and third to perfectly illustrate the wide-open nature of this year’s USF2000Read More

By INDYCAR ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Sunday, March 11, 2018) – If the first race is an indication, the Verizon IndyCar Series is in for a wild, unpredictable and most exciting 2018 season. Sebastien Bourdais repeated as winner of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg today, but only after rookie Robert Wickens and Alexander Rossi collided while battling for the lead on the next-to-last of 110 edge-of-your-seat laps. It was the first of 17 Verizon IndyCar Series races this season. FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG: Official results For Bourdais, theRead More

By Road to Indy ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – An at-times bizarre weekend on the streets of St. Petersburg ended with popular Uruguayan Santiago “Santi” Urrutia and Belardi Auto Racing taking full advantage of the misfortune of others to claim a clear victory in this morning’s Mazda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Cooper Tires. Coupled with his runner-up finish yesterday, Urrutia now holds a handy Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire points lead in his quest to win a Mazda Road to Indy Scholarship valued at $1M to ensureRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG, Florida — Saturday has come and gone for the Verizon IndyCar Series and the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires on the streets of St. Petersburg and many storylines and other things have taken place that made for a full day at the track. IndyCar Robert Wickens getting pole position for Sunday’s race was massive for the Canadian. Stealing the top spot from Will Power on the final lap of the session made it all the sweeter. Wickens came from DTM, butRead More

By Road to Indy ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Pato O’Ward was gifted an opportunity to start from the pole position for today’s Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires season opener after fastest qualifier Aaron Telitz’s Belardi Auto Racing Dallara-Mazda was withdrawn following an incident during qualifying for Race Two this morning. The Mexican teenager took full advantage by storming into the lead at the start of the Mazda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Cooper Tires and was never seriously challenged on his way to a comfortable victory forRead More

By Road to Indy ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Teenager Rinus VeeKay faced plenty of challenges prior to the opening round of the new Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, but he put all that behind him this afternoon as he swept to an impressive victory for Juncos Racing in the first of two races which will comprise the Pro Mazda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Allied Building Products. Fellow Pro Mazda debutant Parker Thompson finished a close second after leading for much of the 25-lap race forRead More

By Pato O’Ward, Driver Columnist Editor’s note: Pato O’Ward will be contributing to Motorsports Tribune selectively throughout the 2018 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires season. The 18-year-old Texas-based Mexican racer pilots the No. 27 Mazda/Dallara IL-15 for Andretti Autosport. A Rolex 24 at Daytona winner and series champion in the Prototype Challenge class a season ago in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, O’Ward will be looking for similar success during his rookie campaign in the top rung of the Mazda Road to Indy. I can’t believe the first race of the IndyRead More

Indianapolis, Ind. – Team Pelfrey announced today Shelby Blackstock will compete in the signature yellow No. 3 Team Pelfrey Indy Lights Mazda to begin the 2018 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires season. The 28-year-old Nashville, Tenn. resident will enter his seventh season on the Road to Indy alongside his new teammate, Neil Alberico. Last season, Blackstock finished a career-best third-place at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. His highest finish on the Streets of St. Petersburg came last year when he finished fourth in Race One. “I’m really looking forward toRead More

By Road to Indy PALMETTO, Fla. – All three levels of the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires open-wheel development ladder will hit the ground running in Florida this coming weekend, March 9-11, in support of the headline Verizon Indy Car Series as part of the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Drivers representing at least 18 states and 14 different nations from around the world are expected to be among the starting lineups when Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper TiresRead More