The 2008

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 ...

was the second round of the 2008 IndyCar Series season and took place on April 6, 2008 at the temporary street and airport circuit on the streets of

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...

. The race was a time-limited race due to rain, with the race falling some seventeen laps short of full race distance. The race was won by

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 ...

on his

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 ...

debut, having missed the first round at Homestead-Miami Speedway, due to a lack of spare parts for his #06

Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Newman/Haas Racing was an auto racing team that competed in the CART and the IndyCar Series from 1983 to 2011. The team operations were based in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Newman/Haas Racing was formed as a partnership between actor, automotive ent ...

machine. At 19 years, 93 days old, Rahal became the youngest driver ever to win an Indy-style race, as well as the youngest winner in

history breaking

Marco Andretti Marco Michael Andretti (born March 13, 1987) is an American auto racing driver who drives the No. 98 car for Bryan Herta Autosport, Andretti Herta Autosport part-time in the IndyCar Series. He is the third generation of the famous Andretti racin ...

's record of 19 years, 167 days from the 2006 IndyCar Series season. He also became the fourth driver to win an IndyCar Series race in his first start, joining

Buzz Calkins Bradley "Buzz" Calkins Jr. (born May 2, 1971 in Denver, Colorado) is a former Indy Racing League driver. After a successful run in Indy Lights from 1993 to 1995 where he finished 11th, 10th, and 6th in his three seasons, he and his Bradley Motors ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

Qualifying

* All cars are split into two groups of thirteen, with the fastest six from each group going through to the "Top 12" session. In this session, the fastest six runners will progress to the "Firestone Fast Six". The fastest driver in this final session will claim pole, with the rest of the runners lining up in session order, regardless of qualifying times. (Fast Six from 1-6, Top 12 from 7-12 and Round 1 from 13-26) Drivers can use as many laps as they want in the timed sessions.

Round 1

Group 1

Group 2

Round 2 (Top 12)

Round 3 (Firestone Fast Six)

Grid

* Before the race,

Marty Roth Marty Roth (born December 15, 1958) is a Canadian former race car driver who last competed in 2008 in the IndyCar Series where he owned his own team, Roth Racing. Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Roth was a successful land developer in the Tor ...

had a problem with his car and did not start.

Bruno Junqueira Bruno Junqueira (born November 4, 1976) is a Brazilian race car driver who most recently competed in the IRL IndyCar Series. He is a former Formula 3000 champion and three-time runner-up in the Champ Car World Series. Racing career Early c ...

therefore moved up to 25th on the grid.

Race

Notes

* The race began under caution, due to the rain that was lying on the street circuit. The race would finally go green on lap 10. * Due to a two-hour time limit, the race was curtailed after 83 of the original 100 laps.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008 Honda Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg

Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Honda Grand Prix 21st century in St. Petersburg, Florida