Video: Game On! Rahal Wins Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg

Jim Haines / IRL

Graham Rahal, the 19 year-old IndyCar rookie and son of 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, became the youngest driver ever to win a major open-wheel race, the first driver from the former Champ Car World Series to win in the unified IndyCar Series, and just the fourth driver ever to win in his first IndyCar Series event. Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan rounded out the top three in an event-filled race that began under heavy rain showers.

“It was tough,” Rahal said. “After getting hit by Will (Power) in the rain and everything, it was going to be a tough start. It doesn’t get any sweeter than this; to expect a win in our first race. We had the pace and we pulled away from them, so it wasn’t like we lucked into it. This is just awesome.”

“Do you think he’ll ever listen to any advice from me again?” said Graham’s father Bobby Rahal, the 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner. “He really thinks he knows everything now. Slowly he will take advice from me. He drove a phenomenal race and the crew did a great job. The engineer gave him a great car. He was fast at the end. That’s the best conditions, a lot of people banging each other, and he kept it together.”

This video produced by the Indy Racing League shows highlights of the race, with announcers from the IMS Radio Network.

The road to Indy continues on April 19th with IndyCar Series regulars at Twin Ring Motegi Japan (tape delayed, Noon (EDT) on ESPN) and former Champ Car World Series drivers at Long Beach, CA.

Official Results

IndyCar Series Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

Results Sunday of the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg IndyCar Series event April 6 at the 1.8-mile Streets of St. Petersburg, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (9) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 83, Running
2. (4) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 83, Running
3. (1) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 83, Running
4. (15) Ernesto Viso, Dallara-Honda, 83, Running
5. (18) Enrique Bernoldi, Dallara-Honda, 83, Running
6. (14) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 83, Running
7. (7) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 83, Running
8. (2) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 83, Running
9. (3) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 83, Running
10. (19) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 83, Running
11. (24) A.J. Foyt IV, Dallara-Honda, 83, Running
12. (8) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 83, Running
13. (11) Darren Manning, Dallara-Honda, 83, Running
14. (20) Jay Howard, Dallara-Honda, 82, Running
15. (16) Buddy Rice, Dallara-Honda, 82, Running
16. (22) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 82, Running
17. (6) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 81, Running
18. (21) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 80, Contact
19. (17) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 75, Contact
20. (10) Franck Perera, Dallara-Honda, 75, Contact
21. (23) Townsend Bell, Dallara-Honda, 75, Contact
22. (13) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 74, Mechanical
23. (5) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 56, Contact
24. (25) Bruno Junqueira, Dallara-Honda, 44, Mechanical
25. (12) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 41, Mechanical
26. (26) Marty Roth, Dallara-Honda, 0, Did not start

Race Statistics

Winner’s average speed: 74.251 mph
Time of race: 2:00:43.5562
Margin of victory: 3.5192 seconds
Cautions: 6 caution flags for 29 laps
Lead changes: 7 among 8 drivers

Lap leaders: Kanaan 1-15, Wilson 16-33, Briscoe 34-44, Bernoldi 45-47, Viso 48-59, Meira 60, Hunter-Reay 61-64, Rahal 65-83.

Point standings: Castroneves 72, Dixon 62, Kanaan 59, Rahal 53, Andretti 53, Wheldon 53, Patrick 48, Viso 45, Servia 44, Bernoldi 42.