Castroneves claims St. Pete win

The win evened the heated rivalry between the IRL's strongest teams - Team Penske and Target Chip Ganassi Racing.

With Castroneves controlling the early laps of the race around the 12-turn, 1.8-mile street circuit, Wheldon and his TCGR crew chose to stay on the track while other teams pitted. As the field approached the restart with Wheldon leading Castroneves, their cars collided, Wheldon was knocked askew, and Castroneves regained the lead.

"It's incredible," said Castroneves, who recorded his second consecutive victory in the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. "You have to be so focused. I had to be really careful that I didn't make a mistake. But it's my time. We won."

While it was exhilarating for Castroneves, it was frustrating for Dixon, who may have had the faster car but couldn't find a place to pass on the narrow, high-speed street circuit.

"It was very frustrating, especially following Helio all bloody day," Dixon said.

"It was taking its toll. You just sit there and wait for the guy to make a mistake. That's all you're doing.

"You try to apply as much pressure as you can. But it's tough when you follow the same car lap after lap. He drove a great race. We couldn't put any more pressure than we did, and he didn't make a mistake."

One driver who had made a mistake was Tony Kanaan, who produced a marvelous drive from the back of the field to the podium in a patched-up car with Band-Aids on its nose after crashing in qualifying shortly after setting the fastest time.

"I shouldn't be pleased when I have a car good enough to win a race and I don't win," Kanaan said.

"When it's something that we can control - especially when it's me making a mistake - I'm pretty hard on myself. I think I let my guys down this weekend."

Following Castroneves, Dixon and Kanaan to the line were Marco Andretti, Dario Franchitti and Tomas Scheckter. Sam Hornish Jr., Danica Patrick, Wheldon and Buddy Rice rounded out the top 10.

Castroneves said he was able to hold off Dixon in spite of gearbox problems that became more pronounced later in the race.

"It was all about consistency today," Castroneves said. "The car was very consistent, a little bit tough on cold tyres.

"Almost everything was working perfectly. The gears started to wear a little bit and I had to be careful not to make any mistakes."

The most significant incident of the day happened too fast for reaction. As the field rounded the 14th turn for the restart on the 35th lap, Wheldon's car suddenly slowed, and Castroneves hit it from behind.

"It looks like Castroneves just decided to hit him before the green flag," Chip Ganassi said.

"This isn't NASCAR. We're not very happy with the Penske team right now. Hitting somebody before the green flag should be some kind of penalty, shouldn't it?"

The second-most significant incident of the day involved two teammates on the first lap - and might have cost both a shot at victory. As Kanaan tried to sneak past Franchitti on the outside heading into the Turn 4 right-hander, the two AGR cars bumped wheels.

"I'm not sure what happened," Franchitti said. "Tony was trying to go around the outside. I was trying to stay out of trouble and had a bit of understeer and we got together.

"The guys did a great job getting the car back together. They didn't get the car back 100 percent, but they made a bloody good attempt."

The incident sent Kanaan spinning and sent Franchitti to the pits for repairs. Both drivers got back among the leaders about halfway through the race, but both indicated they might have had a chance to win if not for the first-lap tap.

"It's always ironic when you touch wheels with your teammate, especially when it's your best friend," Kanaan said.

"I don't think Michael (Andretti) thinks like that, so we're probably going to have a talk. When I go see Dario today, we're going to laugh, but I don't think Michael was laughing at the time. It shouldn't have happened, but it happened."

In the end, Castroneves was the one laughing, having captured his 12th career IRL win and pulled himself back into the championship race.

"I prepared myself very well, and it paid off," Castroneves said.

Results:

Pos  Driver             Team               Laps
 1.  Helio Castroneves  Penske             100
 2.  Scott Dixon        Ganassi            100
 3.  Tony Kanaan        Andretti-Green     100
 4.  Marco Andretti     Andretti-Green     100
 5.  Dario Franchitti   Andretti-Green     100
 6.  Tomas Scheckter    Vision             100
 7.  Sam Hornish Jr     Penske             100
 8.  Danica Patrick     Andretti-Green     100
 9.  Dan Wheldon        Ganassi            100
10.  Buddy Rice         Dreyer & Reinbold  100
11.  Scott Sharp        Rahal-Letterman    100
12.  Darren Manning     Foyt                99
13.  AJ Foyt IV         Vision              98
14.  Jeff Simmons       Rahal-Letterman     97
15.  Sarah Fisher       Dreyer & Reinbold   97
16.  Vitor Meira        Panther             96
17.  Kosuke Matsuura    Panther             83
18.  Ed Carpenter       Vision              45