Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Tag

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

Indianapolis, Ind. (March 5, 2018) – Team Pelfrey announced today that 25-year-old Indy Lights driver Neil Alberico will drive the No. 2 Team Pelfrey Indy Lights Mazda for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Weekend. “I would like to thank Rising Star Racing (RSR) and Team Pelfrey for granting me this opportunity. I have been working hard over the course of the offseason, both in the United States and in the Philippines to generate support and awareness for my career and the sport of open-wheel racing,” Alberico said. “The GrandRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief There are times in motorsports that you just need to sit back and appreciate the moment. Yesterday, we witnessed one of racing’s greatest champions remind the world of his capabilities and put everyone on notice that he’s still one of the best to ever compete in an Indy car. Every headline imaginable that would be perfect for a Hollywood movie took place on the streets of St. Petersburg. The ‘little team’ at Dale Coyne Racing that reunited a decade old all-star team and a former four-timeRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer After starting 18th, climbing to third and finishing 10th probably wasn’t what Ed Jones was expecting to do in his Verizon IndyCar Series debut in his No. 19 Boy Scouts of America Honda, but the Dale Coyne Racing driver managed to accomplish all of that on Sunday’s season opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Jones made his first pit stop on Lap 25 and played the strategy game to perfection as the yellow flag came out one lap later. After aRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. – Ryan Hunter-Reay did not have the ideal start to his Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg weekend, but finishing fourth was way more than he could’ve expected to start the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season. “We had so much going on this weekend with the brake issues that we had in practice session two, where we lost most of the time there, then I tapped the wall in qualifying which threw qualifying out the window and then thisRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — First impressions are critical, and even more so for a top-tier employer. For Josef Newgarden, driving the No. 2 Verizon Wireless Chevrolet for Team Penske is about as top-tier as you can get in the Verizon IndyCar Series and by earning an eighth-place finish in the season opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the impression was a good one. Newgarden was caught out on bad strategy after not making his first pit stop before the caution flagRead More

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Talented Australian Anthony Martin continued from where he left off yesterday, scoring another flag-to-flag victory in this afternoon’s Allied Building Products Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. He now boasts a perfect two-for-two record in the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires. Martin, 22, led throughout the 40-minute race to enjoy a weekend sweep for himself and the locally based Cape Motorsports team on the streets of St. Petersburg. The remaining podium finishers also repeated from yesterday, with Victor Franzoni, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, finishing secondRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Scott Dixon’s No. 9 GE LED Lighting Honda sped to the top of the morning warmup time sheet in preparation for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to kick off the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season. The switch Chip Ganassi Racing made during the offseason from Chevrolet to Honda has paid dividends thus far for the four time series champion as he laid down a lap of 1 minute, 01.9292 seconds (104.636 mph), just over half aRead More

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Anthony Martin began his bid to follow Matthew Brabham as only the second driver to claim back-to-back Mazda Scholarships in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda and the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires with a flag-to-flag victory in the Hi-Tide Kids on Track Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The 22-year-old from Kalgoorlie, Australia, driving for St. Petersburg-based Cape Motorsports, remained under pressure virtually throughout the 25-lap, 30-minute race from Brazilian Victor Franzoni (Juncos Racing) before taking the checkered flag to earn victoryRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Juan Pablo Montoya has now been confirmed by Team Penske to run in the Indianapolis Grand Prix on May 13th. “For Juan, I’ll run him in the G.P. and we want to get him a race with our mechanics before the ‘500. We’ll run him for both the Grand Prix and the 500,” team owner Roger Penske told reporters. Montoya was replaced as a full time driver by Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 Verizon Wireless Chevrolet andRead More