Tag: St. Pete

Star Mazda – St. Petersburg Starting Grid and Preview

Doug Patterson

The Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear begins its 2012 season on the Streets of St. Petersburg this weekend, and it looks like they will start with a pretty healthy grid. While not the 30+ cars they used to have, its still nice to see that 21 cars will take laps in anger around the hybrid airport/street circuit in St. Petersburg, Florida for two races this Saturday and Sunday. Juncos Racing looks to be very strong this season with the addition of Connor Di Philippi and the resigning of Martin…

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USF2000 – AcceleRace Motorsports Returns to the Track

Doug Patterson

Our friends at AcceleRace Motorsports will be returning to competition on the Streets of St. Petersburg this coming weekend. As if the Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda didn’t have a large enough field already, AcceleRace will be adding at least one more car to the grid. It’s uncertain right now just what type of car they will enter. The team does have a Championship class car as well as FC and FE cars. Which they run, I think, will depend upon the driver they sign.…

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Constable’s Corner: 2012 St. Pete picks to watch

Mike Shaw

Well, we are now just a few days away from the 2012 season opener in St. Petersburg. After a highly publicized pre-season test at Sebring some things are very clear. Most notably, Lotus is light years behind Chevrolet and Honda. While some real fan favorites are with Lotus for 2012; Servia, de Silvestro, Tagliani, Bourdais, and series rookie Katherine Legge—The best time in testing was Servia who was only the 19th fastest out of 27 drivers.   This is the return of Chevrolet to the IndyCar series after many years…

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MRTI – Mazda Road to Indy St. Pete Preview

Doug Patterson

This is a rare race weekend. All three elements of the Mazda Road to Indy are going to be racing on the Streets of St. Petersburg on the same weekend. This will be rounds three and four for the US F2000 National Championship, and the opening rounds for the Star Mazda Championship and Firestone Indy Lights. Driver assignments are pretty much settled now, so lets take a look at the grids and preview this weekend’s Mazda Road to Indy races! You can download this weekend’s schedule for all of the…

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IndyCar – St. Petersburg Practice 3

Doug Patterson

Despite a rocky start, the Timing and Scoring on IndyCar.com finally came online, although the video was more of a slideshow than smooth video. Here’s hoping that the online coverage improves over the season. The ontrack action, however was pretty dicey. Ryan Hunter-Reay narrowly avoided being hit by Duno, Viso, and apparently just about everyone else on the grid. Once again, Will Power showed that he has the measure of this circuit, although the other drivers have caught up a bit. The surprise performer this session was EJ Viso rising…

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IndyCar – St. Petersburg Practice 2

Doug Patterson

The second practice session for the IZOD IndyCar Series offered some surprises and some similarities to the morning practice. Once again, Will Power was at the top of the time sheets, throwing down a blistering 1:02.3200 sec lap time! That’s close to the 1:02.1355 sec ICS record time he set in 2008 in his first IndyCar race in 2008. To put it more into perspective, the closest person to Power was Scott Dixon and he was seven tenths off of Will’s pace with a best lap of 1:03.0298 sec. While…

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IndyCar – St. Petersburg Practice 1

Doug Patterson

Will Power picked up right where he left off by setting the top time during this morning’s first practice session for the IZOD IndyCar Series on the Streets of St. Petersburg. Will won the season opener on the new street circuit in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and this morning continued to display his mastery of the art of street racing. On Trackside With Curt Cavin and Kevin Lee, Mr. Cavin predicted that Will Power was so good on the street courses that he would sweep the season. Its still very early…

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IndyCar – St. Petersburg Preview: Story Lines

Doug Patterson

Last Year: Much like any street circuit, Turn 1 of Lap 1 was brutal with abundant contact. The 2008 race winner and 2009 pole setter, Graham Rahal, was punted into the grass inside Turn 1 effectively ending his drive for back-to-back victories. He was able to battle back and claim a top ten, but it certainly wasn’t the finish he was wanting. The surprise performers of the race wer Ryan Hunter-Raey and Justin Wilson. The talent of the two drivers were never in question, but with Ryan driving for Vision…

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IndyCar – St. Petersburg Preview: History and Track Analysis

Doug Patterson

Introduction: This weekend represents the home opener for the IZOD IndyCar Series, and the first race of the season for the Firestone Indy Lights and US F2000 National Championship, on the Streets of St. Petersburg. The IZOD IndyCar Series began the 2010 season the weekend before last on the Streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil, but this weekend represents the series first race of the year on US soil. Historically, the St. Petersburg race has one of the best races of the season, which is a bit surprising given that its…

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Firestone Indy Lights – 2009 Season Review – Spring Races

Doug Patterson

Introduction A dedicated feeder series to the primary American Open-Wheel Racing series has been in existance in one form or another since 1986. The American Racing Series began in 1986 to serve as a development platform for CART, since the Formula Atlantics series which had been around since 1965 had failed to race in 1984, and existed as two separate series, a Pacific and an Atlantic series, from 1985 to 1990. In 1991, the same year that the split Formula Atlantics championship merged back into a single national series, the…

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