Franchitti Suffers Suspension Failure at Honda Grand
Prix
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (April 2, 2006) - Dario Franchitti, driver of the #27 Klein Tools/Jim Beam car,
started on the pole position and led the opening 14 laps of Sunday's running of the Honda Grand Prix of St.
Petersburg before a right-front suspension failure ended his day. Franchitti finished 19th.
After two races, Franchitti is tied for 10th in the driver championship standings, only 10 points out of fifth
place and 49 behind the leader.
Helio Castroneves won the race that ended under caution. Scott Dixon crossed the finish line in
second. Franchitti's teammates Tony Kanaan and Bryan Herta finished third and fourth, respectively. Vitor
Meira rounded out the top five.
The next race on the 14-race Indy Racing League® IndyCar® Series schedule is the Indy Japan 300 in
Motegi, Japan. ESPN will provide coverage of the 200-lap event at 12 p.m. (EDT) on Saturday, April 22.
Dario Franchitti, #27 Klein Tools/Jim Beam Dallara/Honda/Firestone:
"After about five or six laps, the steering started to get very heavy and I thought something was broken
on the car. On the last lap, sure enough, as we went into turn one, something definitely did break. It was a
piece that was replaced after the warmup, as a precaution, after the incident with Kosuke (Matsuura). It was a
brand new piece that failed. I don't know what more we could have done. The Klein Tools/Jim Beam car has
been the car to beat and was easily the fastest car all weekend. This luck has got to end sometime."
Allen McDonald, Race Engineer, #27 Klein Tools/Jim Beam Dallara/Honda/Firestone:
"The entire Klein Tools/Jim Beam team is really disappointed. It's such a shame because everyone has
worked very, very hard to make this a great car and Dario was driving a fantastic race. I'm sure we would have
had great pit stops like we did in Homestead and would have had a terrific result today."
2006 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Results
Pos. Name Laps Pos. Name Laps
1 Helio Castroneves 100 11 Eddie Cheever Jr. 99
2 Scott Dixon 100 12 Tomas Scheckter 96
3 Tony Kanaan 100 13 Buddy Rice 96
4 Bryan Herta 100 14 Buddy Lazier 59
5 Vitor Meira 100 15 Marco Andretti 58
6 Danica Patrick 100 16 Dan Wheldon 57
7 Kosuke Matsuura 100 17 P.J. Chesson 55
8 Sam Hornish Jr. 99 18 Roberto Moreno 32
9 Felipe Giaffone 99 19 Dario Franchitti 15
10 Scott Sharp 99