Before the crash at Las Vegas that ultimately claimed the life of Dan Wheldon, it was announced that Wheldon would drive the No. 27 Go Daddy Chevrolet for Andretti Autosport in 2012. After the crash, the mayor of Hinchtown was elected for the ride.
Flash forward to 2013, St. Petersburg is a race that has become one to remember Wheldon as Wheldon had lived in Florida with wife Susie and their two kids. The one straightaway of the course has been named Dan Wheldon way while a memorial has been put in place, wit the winner’s name to be added each year. It was also Susie that would wave the flag to start the 2013 running of the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
At the end of the 110 lap event, it was Hinchcliffe that was able to drive to victory lane for his first career IZOD IndyCar Series victory. It also marks the first IndyCar win for Go Daddy.
“We talked before the race – we were excited before the race,” Hinchcliffe said of his conversation with his engineer. “He was excited to see Hinchcliffe 2.0. I asked what is Hinchcliffe 2.0? Better restarts, better job at conserving the tires. Great to see Go Daddy in victory lane in Indycar. So awesome. To grab the first one here in St. Pete to throw it out to Dan, in his car, is just awesome.”
Hinchcliffe was able to grab the lead from Helio Castroneves on the final race restart on lap 85 and never looked back, keeping about a car length between himself and Castroneves. Hinchcliffe was on the black tires while most were on the reds. The reds were known to be quicker, yet would give up easier.
“Well we knew that was it for us on reds,” Hinchcliffe said. “We knew it was tough to put the old set on. we knew on the last restart that everybody we would be on reds, but we were tough.”
Helio Castroneves would finish second after leading the middle part of the race.
“We were starting to lose (on the alternate Firestone tires) with about four laps to go and I already went from hero to zero and I said, ‘You know what? I don’t want to finish this race without any points at all,’ ” said Castroneves. “Great day for us. It’s a shame we let that one go, but Hinch did a hell of a job.”
Marco Andretti would make a late race charge to finish the race third.
“It’s a good start. Looks like we are going to have to beat (Hinchcliffe) this year,” Andretti said.
The battle for fourth would end in a thrilling three-wide finish at the line that would see Tony Kanaan edge out Scott Dixon and Simona de Silvestro.
“It’s been a good weekend for us,” said de Silvestro, who started a career-best third in her first race with KV Racing Technology. “Unfortunately, we lost a few positions at the end there. We kind of ran out of tires at the end. I think we can be pretty happy with sixth.”
EJ Viso finished seventh, followed by Takuma Sato, Justin Wilson and Alex Tagliani.
The 110 lap race would see four cautions with the first caution coming out on lap 20 after Dario Franchitti got into the wall. Franchitti would come off pit road and push the car through turn three, getting sideways and then into the wall.
“We’ve really struggled with the car,” Franchitti said. “I had to try to make it up somewhere so I tried to drive a little hard there, hit a bump in three and made a mistake. Just a mistake on my end, trying to drive a little hard there, knowing I had to make it up.”
Franchitti added that they made improvements throughout the weekend, but they are a long way away from where they need to be.
The second caution came out on lap 27 after Ana Beatris got into Charlie Kimball, collecting James Jakes and Oriol Servia and JR Hildebrand. Then, Saavedra would get into the damaged Hildebrand, causing Hildebrand to go around and the caution to fly. Simon Pagenaud would have mechanical issues under the caution.
The third caution would come out on lap 45 for debris. Josef Newgarden would have clutch issues under the caution.
“Tried to figure out here, but couldn’t get it working,” Newgarden commented. “It’s a shame for us. We got to try and get some momentum going. Firestone makes great tires, but it’s going to be tough to balance between the reds and the blacks.”
Oriol Servia did lead after not pitting under that caution and would pit under green on lap 63. That was when he would have his mechanical issues, unable to get off pit road.
The fourth and last caution came out on lap 75 when Saavedra would overshoot the corner and hit the wall. He had sustained damage earlier in the race. Then under caution, Hinchcliffe and Power slowed down while Hilderbrand didn’t. As a result, Hiderbrand would drive of the side of Power’s car and hit the wall.
“We were getting ready for the restart, dialing my knobs back, talking to my guys, those guys slowed up and I just ran into the back of him,” Hilderbrand said. “Totally my fault. I couldn’t help getting into him. I’m super sorry to Will. I was just trying to get back on the lead lap there. I was just doing too much all at once.”
Power would get back up into the top 12 after pitting to fix the damage, however would hit the wall in turn four late in the race. He would finish 16th.
“It’s too bad because the Verizon car was definitely fast,” he said. “(About the incident): He came over and apologized after the race. He said he was just looking down at his steering wheel and he just ran over the top of me. It’s just a mistake but that happens in racing. Then I made another mistake there at the end and it cost us four more places. Tough day but we just have to move forward and look ahead to Barber (April 7).”
Defending series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay would spend multiple laps on pit road with throttle issues.
Rookie Tristian Vautier would have mechanical problems on lap 70 after running inside the top five most of the first half of the race.
“We had a motor issue, nothing that we can control,” Vautier said. “I think we did well with what we could control so there’s not much more you can do about that. I had a lot of fun. Wish I was still out there. we can’t really be mad at anyone; it’s just a part of racing.”
