Honda: Will Powers to Victory at St. Petersburg

TULLAMARINE, AUSTRALIA – March 30, 2010: Australian Will Power is now two-for-two in the IZOD IndyCar Series, winning an eventful, rain-delayed Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the back of his victory two weeks ago at the season opener in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Heavy rains, lightning and course flooding on Sunday in St. Petersburg, Florida, forced race officials to postpone the 100-lap street circuit event until 10 a.m. EDT Monday, 29 March. But clear skies and mild temperatures greeted the impressively large crowd that returned for the morning’s race and they witnessed an action-filled contest featuring 10 lead changes among eight different race leaders.

Power led from the pole at the start, but was soon passed by both Marco Andretti and Scott Dixon. Dixon quickly forced his way past Andretti to lead until the first full-course caution, on Lap 27, when the field split up into alternate pit strategies. Meanwhile, defending series champion Dario Franchitti fell to the back of the pack after spinning on the opening lap, setting the stage for an impressive late-race charge.

The middle stages of the race saw multiple lead changes, with Vitor Meira, Raphael Matos and Ryan Briscoe all taking turns at the point. Several drivers also were eliminated in crashes, the most spectacular one taking place on Lap 47 as suspension failure sent Dan Wheldon into the rear of Mario Moraes and both cars into the Turn 1 wall. No driver injuries were reported.

The final caution of the day, on Lap 74 for contact between Graham Rahal and Simona de Silvestro in Turn 1, set up a 21-lap sprint to the finish with all cars having made their final stops. A lightning-quick final stop from Dreyer & Reinbold Racing saw Justin Wilson take the restart just behind leader Power and the pair battled to the finish with the margin of victory just over eight-tenths of a second.

The Team Penske duo of Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves finished third and fourth, respectively, while Franchitti put on the drive of the day over the final laps, moving from 10th when the green flag waved on Lap 79 to fifth at the checkers.

For the second consecutive race weekend in this young season, all 24 Honda-powered drivers and teams completed the race weekend without a single failure for the Honda Indy V-8 engine. This weekend the teams logged a total of 8,118 trouble-free miles.

The IZOD IndyCar Series now takes a one-week break before resuming with the first permanent road course race of the season, April 11 at Barber Motorsports Park just outside of Birmingham, AL.