RACE TWO: Marco's race ends early after starting in 12th at St Pete.
Nineteen-year-old Graham Rahal won his first IndyCar Series race – in his first IndyCar Series race – beating defending, two-time St Pete winner Helio Castroneves to the checkered flags by 3.5192 seconds in this weather-infested contest. He beat Marco's record of being the youngest ever Indy winner - He scored an IndyCar win 74 days sooner than the previous record holder (Marco at Infineon) at 19 years and 93 days of age.

Marco Andretti finished 25th – the victim of a broken halfshaft during a Lap 41 pit stop.

On his race retirement Marco said: "We were coming in to put on slick tires because the track was really starting to dry and we made the right call. I'm really disappointed in myself because that was a rookie mistake. I have to apologize to the Gillette boys. I think I let them down today because we definitely had the pace. We did a great job in the pits. I just made a mistake."


After promising runs in practice (and an impressive full gearbox rebuild in the hour before) things didn't hold together for qualifying on Saturday for the fourth annual Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg. Marco Andretti was the final driver to make it out of Q1, earning 12th on the grid.

He said: "The Gillette car was absolutely good enough to make it into the Firestone Fast Six based on the practice times we've been posting. We had a problem with our pedal setup in qualifying and it's just really disappointing. The Gillette car has been good all weekend, though, so we'll find our way to the front."

New exclusive St.Pete galleries now online. Our best set yet... Check out the Great Gearbox Caper where the AGR crew rebuild the #26 car gearbox in just 40 minutes We also have a set of pics of the car on track.

As always check the fanzone photos for the latest pics, sometimes uploaded directly from pit lane, and the best fan photos.

Marco's St. Pete sponsor: Gillette Fusion Power are adding a little color to Marco's race this weekend. If it is good enough for Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Barcelona FC's Thierry Henry it's good anough for Marco Andretti too. Prepare to be dazzled!

Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg 2008:
The HONDA GRAND PRIX of ST. PETERSBURG & ACURA SPORTS CAR CHALLENGE of ST. PETERSBURG is a unique, 3-day festival event on the beautiful waterfront of downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, USA featuring the IndyCar Series, Indy Pro Series and American Le Mans Series, as well as a yacht club, airshows, drifting exhibitions, concerts, interactive attractions, parties and family entertainment

About.com says:
Once upon a time, St. Petersburg was known as the "City of Green Benches." The dark green benches were featured in widely distributed post cards, making the images of white-haired visitors sitting on them synonymous with St. Petersburg. Like most downtowns of the day, St. Petersburg's downtown was a busy place, but overall the city was basically as retiring as the retirees who settled there. A game of shuffleboard was just about as exciting as it got.

Not any more. Most will agree today that this isn't your grandparents' St. Petersburg. Fast forward just over a half a century and you'll find a very different city. The green benches are gone, victims of a well-meaning, but perhaps misguided attempt at a city-wide "image upgrade." And, while you'll still find retirees in this waterfront city, you'll also find a changing demographic that includes 30-something professionals and young families — those that most likely would be bored by shuffleboard.

So, while shuffleboard courts are still around, St. Petersburg's choices in entertainment are changing along with the demographics. Consider the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. We're talking about an Indy-style street course with high fences, tight turns and roaring race cars. The event is run on a 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street course that fronts St. Petersburg's bay front and runs along Bayshore Drive. This year's event will once again feature races from both the IndyCar Series and the American Le Mans Series (ALMS).

Ticket Information
General admission tickets for the event range from $25 for Friday and Saturday to $80 for prime reserved grandstand seats on Sunday.

For more information or to purchase tickets contact the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg box office at 727-892-5767 or online at www.gpstpete.com

Backstory
Racing in the St. Petersburg area dates back to 1985. The SCCA Trans-Am Series held a race on a downtown waterfront circuit from 1985-1990. Local residents and businesses complained about noise, and the event was put on hiatus. In 1996-1997, the 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 was well-received, but the course was considered unsatisfactory. The event went again on hiatus for several years.

In 2003, the event was revived once again. The race was first run as a Champ Car event in 2003. It utilitzed a modified version of the original 1985-90 waterfront circuit.

For 2004, however, the event was cancelled due to a dispute between the promoters. When the race returned in 2005, it switched to the IndyCar series, and marked the first non-oval event of the Indy Racing League. Starting in 2007, the race weekend was expanded to include an ALMS event.
The next race is scheduled for April 4-5-6, 2008. The event is currently contracted through at least 2009.

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.

The original 1985 Trans-Am course utilized a similar layout. At the end of Bayshore Drive, rather than diverting off to the airport runways, the course circled around 5th Avenue Southeast and the start/finish line was located just south of the paddock. In addition, the old course traveled further up Beach Drive Northeast, all the way to 5th Avenue Northeast. When the course was reconfigured, it turned at Central Avenue instead.

The second course at Tropicana Field was located about a mile west of the waterfront location.

The proposed Rays Ballpark is situated inside the confines of the course layout, and may disrupt, require changes, or lead to cancellation of the event in the future.




 

 

Race 2 of 16
Sunday April 6th 2008
St Petersburg, Florida

Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Streets of St. Petersburg

Qualifying: Sat, April 5
Race: Sun, April 6

Distance: 100 laps/180 miles
2007 Winner: Helio Castroneves