Preview: 2012 INDYCAR Series Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy/XSL Speed Reporter

The Notes and Know:

The season-opening race for the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series will the site for a multitude of firsts. Not only will the Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg be the first event for the new season, the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series event will be the first race with the all-new Dallara DW12 race chassis as well as the return of engine competition as Chevrolet and Lotus set to do battle with established player Honda Racing Development.

With a 26-car field arriving to compete in the 2012 Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg, there are veteran drivers in new team colours and rookie drivers set to get initiated with their first IZOD INDYCAR open wheel series competition on Sunday March 25th. Canadian driver and 2011 IZOD INDYCAR Series Rookie of the Year James Hinchcliffe joins the top-flite operation of Andretti Autosport. Hinchcliffe's teammate of 2011 Oriol Servia is now driving for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.  Two-time pole winner in 2011, Takuma Sato sailed to Rahal Letterman Lanigan racing as KV Racing Technology shifted from Honda to Chevrolet power in 2012. Some notable newcomers to the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series tour at St Petersburg is English driver and former Champ car contender Katherine Legge as well as long-time Formula 1 superstar Rubens Barrichello.

Still residing in the same teams from last year, Tony Kanaan and Ryan Briscoe take on new numerical identities in 2012. KV Racing Technology regains Tony Kanaan's #11 the Brazilian held during his long tenure at Andretti Autosport spanning from 2003 ending in 2010. Penske Racing swaps the number of Ryan Briscoe's car from #6 to #2 in 2012. Not only does Penske Racing hold the #2 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, the organization has enjoyed success with the number through open wheel racing. In the CART/Champ car series, Gil de Ferran won the 2000 championship riding the #2 on his vehicle.

St Petersburg will also be the first INDYCAR event since the tragic loss of Dan Wheldon on lap 12 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The transplanted home of the late INDYCAR superstar, Wheldon's memory has been honoured earlier this month with naming of the turn 10 component of the St Petersburg street course as "Dan Wheldon Way". There is also future plans for a permanent monument to Wheldon's racing and life achievements added to the St Petersburg area.


Track Vitals:

St Petersburg, Florida

Track Type: 14-turn temporary road course
Track Distance: 1.8 Miles
Race Length: 100 laps/180 miles
Race Time: 12:30 PM Eastern

2011 Defending Race Winner: Dario Franchitti



2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series
Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg
Entry List

	Car #	Driver	Driver Nationality	Race Team	Engine Supplier
1	2	Ryan Briscoe	Australia	Team Penske	Chevrolet
2	3	Helio Castroneves	Brazil	Team Penske	Chevrolet
3	4	JR Hildebrand	United States	Panther Racing	Chevrolet
4	5	EJ Viso	Venezuela	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
5	6	Katherine Legge	England	Lotus-Dragon Racing	Lotus
6	7	Sebastien Bourdais	France	Lotus-Dragon Racing	Lotus
7	8	Rubens Barrichello	Brazil	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
8	9	Scott Dixon	New Zealand	Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
9	10	Dario Franchitti	Scotland	Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
10	11	Tony Kanaan	Brazil	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
11	12	Will Power	Australia	Team Penske	Chevrolet
12	14	Mike Conway	England	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Honda
13	15	Takuma Sato	Japan	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
14	18	Justin Wilson	England	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
15	19	James Jakes	England	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
16	20	Ed Carpenter	United States	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
17	22	Oriol Servia	Spain	Lotus-Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Lotus
18	26	Marco Andretti	United States	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
19	27	James Hinchcliffe	Canada	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
20	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	United States	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
21	38	Graham Rahal	United States	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
22	67	Josef Newgarden	United States	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing	Honda
23	77	Simon Pagenaud	France	Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports	Honda
24	78	Simona de Silvestro	Switzerland	Lotus-HVM Racing	Lotus
25	83	Charlie Kimball	United States	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
26	98	Alex Tagliani	Canada	Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian	Lotus