Today's 6th
Place Finish is Tomorrow's Pole Position Start.
ST.
PETERSBURG, Fla. –
Raphael Matos won today's race
from the front of the field. And with the unique
format of the St. Petersburg weekend, tomorrow, Atlanta's
Chris Festa will see if he can do the same.
The
2005 Star Mazda series champion gave former IndyCar Series
driver Jim Guthrie his first Indy Pro Series victory as a
team owner in the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Matos,
driving the No. 41 Guthrie Racing/Car Crafters car, held off
Jeff Simmons by 0.5075 of a second in the 40-lap race on the
1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit.
Series
rookie Jay Howard, driving the No. 7 Lucas Oil/Isilon/Sam
Schmidt Motorsports car, finished third and Cheever
Racing’s Nick Bussell was fourth. Another rookie,
Jonathan Klein in the No. 27 Klein Tools car, was fifth,
followed by Chris Festa in the No. 51 Cheever Racing
car.
The top
six finishers will be inverted for Race 2 at 11:30 a.m.
(EDT) on April 2. Matos is the fourth driver to win in his
Indy Pro Series debut (A.J. Foyt IV, Mark Taylor, Phil
Giebler and Marco Andretti).
"Right
now, I'm loving it, because now I can start up front
where I normally like to be," Festa said. "Toward the
end of the race, I had a couple of cars to pass, but
even though were were a little quicker my crew told me I
was in sixth place, so I just backed off a little bit
and came home sixth so I could start on the pole
tomorrow."
Matos
made a pass for the lead as Simmons’ No. 24 Kenn Hardley
Racing car went wide into Turn 14, and he made it stand
the final three laps. Two laps earlier, Simmons passed
Matos for the lead in Turn 2 on a restart after the No.
1 Brian Stewart Racing car driven by Geoff Dodge clipped
the No. 9 Ocala Grand Prix car driven by Bobby Wilson in
Turn 9.
Simmons, who won the season opener on the
Homestead-Miami Speedway oval March 26, said he'll look
to redeem himself in the second race.
"I
just made a mistake," he said about the pass on the
hairpinn turn. "Missed it by an inch or two -- basically
did the same thing Jay did to let me by. As soon as you
miss just a little bit down there in that last corner,
you get out in some marbles, you're dirt-tracking for
the rest of that corner.
"It
was a good race. I hate to throw it away at the end like
that. Fortunately, this weekend we got a chance to
redeem ourselves tomorrow."
After
having to repair the car after a practice sessions March
31, Guthrie was elated with the work of his team and, of
course, the results.
“This
day has been full of ups and downs, this is the best up I’ve
had in a long time," said Guthrie, the 1997 IndyCar Series
Rookie of the Year. "This feels very, very good. Not quite
as good as (my IndyCar Series win at) Phoenix, the next best
thing. It’s a great day. Raphael tested with us last year
and him and my son Sean were great buddies. For him to be
able to run here today with us and win. It’s awesome.”
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