The 2014 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was the first race of the

2014 IndyCar Series season The 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series was the 19th season of the IndyCar Series and the 103rd season of American open wheel racing. Its premier event was the 2014 Indianapolis 500, 98th Indianapolis 500, held on Sunday, May 25. Scott Dixon entered the ...

, the race took place on March 30 in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, on the city's temporary street course. The race was won by

Will Power William "Will" Steven Power (born 1 March 1981) is an Australian motorsports driver who currently competes in the IndyCar Series, driving for Team Penske. He is the 2014 and 2022 IndyCar Series champion and the 2018 Indianapolis 500 champion. ...

for

Team Penske Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the IndyCar Series, NTT IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona ...

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 ...

finished second ahead of

Hélio Castroneves Hélio Castroneves (; born Hélio Alves de Castro Neves; 10 May 1975) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He has won the Indianapolis 500 a record-equalling four times: in 2001, 2002, 2009, and 2021. He won the 2021 24 Hours of Daytona wit ...

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 ...

, and

Simon Pagenaud Simon Pagenaud (born 18 May 1984) is a French professional racing driver. He is contracted to drive the No. 60 Honda for Meyer Shank Racing in the IndyCar Series. After a successful career in sports car racing that saw him taking the top class ...

. The top finishing rookie in the race was

Mikhail Aleshin Mikhail Petrovich Aleshin ( rus, Михаи́л Петро́вич Алёшин, p=mʲɪxɐˈil pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ɐˈlʲɵʂɨn, born 22 May 1987 in Moscow, Soviet Union) is a Russian professional racing driver and the 2010 champion of the For ...

, in 12th position.

Report

Background

entered this race as the defending series champion, having won his third Indycar title in the

2013 IndyCar Series season The 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series was the 18th season of the IndyCar Series and the 102nd season of American open wheel racing. Its premier event was the 97th Indianapolis 500 held on Sunday, May 26. The 2013 season was the second to feature the D ...

from

. This was the first race for 3 Indycar rookies.

Jack Hawksworth Jack W. Hawksworth (born 28 February 1991) is a British professional racing driver from Bradford, West Yorkshire. , he competes in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for AIM Vasser Sullivan. He has also raced in the Star Mazda Championsh ...

raced in the number 98 for

Bryan Herta Autosport Bryan Herta Autosport is an American auto racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series and the Michelin Pilot Challenge. It is owned by former IndyCar driver Bryan Herta. The team won the 2011 Indianapolis 500 with driver Dan Wheldon. In 2016 ...

after moving up from the

Indy Lights Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as Firestone Indy NXT Series for sponsorship reasons. Indy Lights is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a program ...

series.

and

Carlos Huertas Carlos Huertas (born 22 June 1991) is a Colombian racing driver. Racing career Born in Bogotá, Huertas began his career in Formula BMW UK in 2007 with Räikkönen Robertson Racing where he finished 13th. He finished fifth in the World Final r ...

, who both raced in Formula Renault 3.5 in 2013, made their debuts as well, with Aleshin racing for

Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports The IndyCar Series operation of McLaren (competing as Arrow McLaren due to sponsorship) is based in Indianapolis and was founded by former IndyCar driver Sam Schmidt in 2001 as Sam Schmidt Motorsports. After a series of partnerships and name cha ...

and Huertas

Dale Coyne Racing Dale Coyne Racing (DCR) is an American professional open-wheel racing team that currently competes in the IndyCar Series. The team was founded in 1984 and is owned by former driver Dale Coyne. From 1995 to 2000, the team was known as Payton-Coyn ...

. Carlos Muñoz was the 4th rookie in the field with 3 Indycar races in the

, most notably the

2013 Indianapolis 500 The 97th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday May 26, 2013. It was the premier event of the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season. Tony Kanaan, a native of Brazil, was victorious on a record-settin ...

. Returning to

American open wheel racing American open-wheel car racing, also known as Indy car racing, is a category of professional automobile racing in the United States. As of 2022, the top-level American open-wheel racing championship is sanctioned by IndyCar. Competitive events ...

, since his last race in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, is

Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (; born September 20, 1975) is a Colombian racing driver. He won the International F3000 championship in 1998, the CART FedEx Championship Series in 1999 in his debut year in the series, and the IMSA WeatherTech S ...

, the 1999 CART Champion and the

2000 Indianapolis 500 The 84th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 28, 2000. After four years of an ongoing organizational dispute and "split" in Indy car racing, Chip Ganassi Racing became the first major CA ...

winner. In 2014 he will drive for

in the number 2 car. This was also the first race for

Chip Ganassi Racing Chip Ganassi Racing, LLC (CGR), also sometimes branded as Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, is an American auto racing organization with teams competing in the IndyCar Series, NTT IndyCar Series, International Motor Sports Association, IMSA WeatherTech ...

using

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

engines after the switch from

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

, with

Tony Kanaan Antoine Rizkallah "Tony" Kanaan Filho (born 31 December 1974), nicknamed TK, is a Brazilian racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 6 Toyota Corolla E210 for Full Time Bassani a ...

replacing

Dario Franchitti George Dario Marino Franchitti, MBE (born 19 May 1973) is a British former racing driver and current motorsport commentator from Scotland. He is a four time IndyCar Series champion ( 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011), a three-time winner of the Indiana ...

, after his career ending crash in the second Houston race last year. Other drivers racing for a new teams are;

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 ...

with

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, Lond ...

with

Ed Carpenter Racing Ed Carpenter Racing is an American racing team based in Speedway, Indiana that currently competes in the IndyCar Series. The team is owned by driver Ed Carpenter. The team is based in Indianapolis, Indiana, and currently fields the No. 20 Dal ...

Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (born 28 February 1979) is a French professional racing driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, having won 37 races. He won four successive championships ...

and

Sebastián Saavedra Sebastián Saavedra (born 2 June 1990) is a Colombian racing driver from Bogotá. In 2014, he drove for KVSH Racing in the Verizon IndyCar Series before being replaced by former GP2 Series driver Stefano Coletti. Racing career Early career Afte ...

with

KV Racing Technology KV Racing Technology was an auto racing team that last competed in the IndyCar Series. The team was originally formed as PK Racing before the 2003 season by Australian businessman Kevin Kalkhoven and former Formula One team manager Craig Poll ...

Classification

Qualifying

Race results

;Notes: Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position.

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Manufacturer standings * Note: Only the top five positions are included.

References

*http://www.imscdn.com/INDYCAR/Documents/2888/2014-03-30/indycar-race-lapfinal.pdf *http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113203 *http://www.indycar.com/News/2014/03/3-30-Box-Score-StPete {{IndyCar Series race report, Name_of_race =

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 ...

, Year_of_race = 2014 , Previous_race_in_season = None , Next_race_in_season = 2014 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach , Previous_year's_race =

2013 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg The 2013 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was the first race of the 2013 IndyCar Series season, with the race taking place on March 24 in St. Petersburg, Florida, on the city's temporary street course. The race was won by James Hinchcliffe, his f ...

, Next_year's_race = 2015 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

Firestone 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 ...

Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

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