The Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was the opening round of the 2009 IndyCar Series on April 5, 2009. It was the first time in

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

history that the season begins on a road course and not an oval. The race saw 4 drivers make their debuts in the championship:

Stanton Barrett Stanton Thomas Barrett (born December 1, 1972) is an American professional stock car racing driver and Hollywood stuntman who last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 47 Chevrolet Camaro for Mike Harmon Racing, and pa ...

Mike Conway Mike Conway (born 19 August 1983) is a British professional racing driver. He lives in Sevenoaks, Kent and is currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Toyota Gazoo Racing. Biography Conway who was born in Bromley, Lo ...

Robert Doornbos Robert Michael Doornbos (; born 23 September 1981) is a Dutch former racing driver who also competed with a Monégasque licence. He has been test and third driver for the Jordan and Red Bull Racing Formula One teams, as well as driving for Mi ...

and

Raphael Matos Raphael Matos (born August 28, 1981) is a Brazilian professional racing driver. He was the 2008 Firestone Indy Lights Series champion and the 2007 Champ Car Atlantic Series champion. He lives in Miami. Career highlights Early career Born in Bel ...

. The race was contested over 100 laps of the 1.80 mile street course.

Graham Rahal Graham Robert Rahal (born January 4, 1989) is an American race car driver and small business owner. He currently participates in the IndyCar Series with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, a team partially owned by his father Bobby Rahal, the winner ...

started from the pole but a poor start meant that he dropped back and out of contention for the victory. Defending champion

Scott Dixon Scott Ronald Dixon (born 22 July 1980) is a professional racing driver from New Zealand, who competes in the NTT IndyCar Series for Chip Ganassi Racing. Dixon has won the IndyCar championship six times: in 2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 202 ...

crashed out on lap 80, a poor start to his defence of the title, which left Penske's

Ryan Briscoe Ryan Briscoe (born 24 September 1981) is an Australian-American professional racing driver from Sydney who has predominantly raced open-wheel and sports cars in Europe and America. In IndyCar he collected 8 wins and 28 podiums, finishing third ...

to take the chequered flag from

Ryan Hunter-Reay Ryan Christopher Hunter-Reay (born December 17, 1980) is a professional American racing driver best known as a winner of both the Indianapolis 500 (2014) and the IndyCar Series championship in 2012. In each accomplishment, Hunter-Reay became th ...

who finished 2nd and Justin Wilson who came home 3rd.

Race

*The race exceeded

road racing Road racing is a form of motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held either on a closed circuit or on a street circuit utilizing temporarily closed public roads. Originally, road races were held almost entirely on publ ...

's traditional two-hour time limit. No reason was given for this. {{IndyCar Series race report, Name_of_race = 2009 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg , Year_of_race = 2009 , Previous_race_in_season =

2008 Nikon Indy 300 The 2008 Nikon Indy 300 was the 19th and final race of the 2008 IndyCar Series season. It was held on 26 October 2008 on the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Queensland, Australia. It was the first time the race was held for the Indy Racing ...

, Next_race_in_season = 2009 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach , Previous_year's_race = 2008 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg , Next_year's_race = 2010 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is an IndyCar Series race held in St. Petersburg, Florida. In most years since 2009, the race has served as the season opener (or at minimum, the first race held on U.S. soil). The race is held annually ...

21st century in St. Petersburg, Florida