Phoenix: Castroneves leaves it late

Opening round winner Sam Hornish led the most laps, hitting the front for the first time from pole sitter Castroneves on lap 23 when the American boxed him in when the Penske man hit traffic. But Hornish lost crucial time when he stalled during a pit stop just before half distance, dropping him to seventh. Although he battled his way back to the sharp end, the handling of his car seemed to fall away in the latter stages and he was only able to challenge the Penskes in traffic.

With Hornish merely hovering in the background this time, the Penskes were allowed to battle it out for the win. De Ferran picked up the lead with 32 laps to go with a great move through Turn 3, but Castroneves wasn't to be denied with a similarly brave move at the final restart that netted him victory.

"I was patient, I took it easy early on but I made the pass when I had to. Fantastic, here we go!" yelled Castroneves after a typical display of fence climbing to celebrate victory.

De Ferran, who only led the race for 15 laps, held off Hornish for second. Eliseo Salazar was fourth, ahead of Al Unser Jr. The latter led for 39 laps after a gamble on fuel strategy paid off, which meant he stayed on the lead lap.

The race was marred by a number of heavy shunts, although none of the drivers involved were injured. Frontrunners Tomas Scheckter and Robbie Buhl were eliminated with engine trouble.

For full race results click here.