IndyCar – Hinchcliffe triumphs in St. Petersburg

As soon as the green flag waved, Will Power (Team Penske) escaped to quickly build a comfortable lead over the rest of the pack led by Takuma Sato (AJ Foyt Entreprises) and James Hinchcliffe (Andretti Autosport). But after observing his first pit stop, Dario Franchitti went to hit the wall between turns 8 and 9 on cold tires. Forced to retire, the Scotsman from Target Chip Ganassi Racing caused the first intervention of the safety car.

At the restart, Hinchcliffe moved into third position and Helio Castroneves (Team Penske) takes the lead at the expense of Will Power. Behind, Sébastien Bourdais (Dragon Racing) lost time after being blocked by a collision involving Hildebrand (Panther), Jakes (RLL) and Kimball (Ganassi). JR Hildebrand who even hit the wall a few seconds later after being hit on the left rear by Sebastian Saavedra (Dragon Racing), causing the second safety car to go out. As for simon pagenaud (Sam Schmidt Hamilton Motorsport), he was already forced to retire after encountering a mechanical problem affecting the exhausts of his Dallara DW12. Nightmare weekend for Poitevin. Castroneves is in the lead ahead of Power and Hinchcliffe. Sato, De Silvestro and Vautier follow. The top 10 is completed by Kanaan, Wilson and Dixon. Hunter-Reay is 11th. Sébastien Bourdais is then in 16th place.

The race was restarted on lap 32, and Power lost another place to Hinchliffe. Tristan Vautier must resist the attacks of Tony Kanaan. As for Simona de Silvestro, she goes inside Takuma Sato to take fourth position. The Swiss is imitated a lap later by Tristan Vautier, who enters the top 5. New intervention, the fourth, from the safety car. The reason, debris on the track. The majority of competitors refuel. Oriol Servia, who did not make it to the pit box, took the lead ahead of Castroneves, Power, Hinchcliffe, De Silvestro, Jakes and Vautier, seventh. Sébastien Bourdais is 21st. The race must restart on the 50th lap, but the car No. 67 of Josef Newgarden stops on the track following clutch problems.

It was on the 53rd lap that the race was finally restarted. Immediately, Vautier regained his sixth place to the detriment of Jakes. In the process, the Frenchman even dislodged De Silvestro from fifth position! The Tricolore confirms its good outlook in qualifying. As for James Hinchcliffe, it didn't take long for him to get back into the top 3 by overtaking Power. Oriol Servia still leads ahead of Castroneves, Hinchcliffe, Power and Vautier. Coming back from afar, Scott Dixon performs a magnificent overtaking maneuver on Justin Wilson to enter the top 10.

Oriol Servia finally stops, on the 62nd lap. But his car stops in the pit lane (out of fuel). Helio Castroneves is then in the lead ahead of James Hinchcliffe and Will Power. Grenoble rookie Tristan Vautier climbs to fourth place, his best position since the start. Ryan Hunter-Reay was hit in the rear and had to return to the pits. But the American seems to suffer from an accelerator problem. The outgoing champion's stop drags on, shattering any hope of a good result. A little further in the ranking, Sébastien Bourdais continues his rise and is in 13th position. Unfortunately for French supporters, Tristan Vautier's recital will end there. The 2012 Indy Lights champion had to stop, suffering from the same exhaust problem as his teammate Simon Pagenaud. But the Frenchman left his mark...

At the same time, Sebastian Saavedra crashed into the wall, causing another interruption of the race. This is the moment chosen by JR Hildebrand to distinguish himself…in a very sad way. Under safety car regime, he will climb into Will Power's single-seater, destroying the Australian's dreams of a podium, or even victory.

Subsequently, James Hinchcliffe took advantage of an error from Castroneves at turn 1 during a restart to take first place. A position that he will maintain until the finish to pocket his first victory in the discipline. The podium is completed by the Brazilian Helio Castroneves and the American Marco Andretti (Andretti Autosport) who managed to take the advantage at the last minute over a very lively Simona de Silvestro (KV Racing). The Swiss will ultimately have to settle for 6th place after being overtaken by Tony Kanaan and Scott Dixon in fourth and fifth respectively. Sébastien Bourdais will have made do with the means at hand. At the wheel of a reluctant single-seater, the unfortunate Manceau crossed the line in 11th position after starting 21st, already thinking of better days.

Discover the report of theIndyCar in St Petersburg produced by our special correspondent in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available from Tuesday in digital version for iPad, PC and Mac, and from Wednesday on newsstands.