IndyCar – Montoya wins in St Petersburg

Juan Pablo Montoya achieved the same feat as in 2015 by winning the Grand Prix of St Petersburg (Florida), the first event of the season.IndyCar. The Colombian who achieves the same feat asHelio Castroneves in 2007 took the advantage over his teammate simon pagenaud during a restart and did not relinquish his leading position until the finish.

While the double winner of the Indianapolis 500 becomes the 31st most victorious driver in IndyCar, tied with Alex Zanardi, the Poitevin ensures a double for Team Penske after leading in the first laps of the event and taking advantage of withdrawal of poleman Will Power (Team Penske) replaced by Oriol Servia who finished 18th after starting from the back of the grid.

Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport) completes the podium after overtaking Helio Castroneves (Team Penske) two laps from the finish. Mikhail Aleshin (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports) completes the top five after making a strong comeback from 12th position. Reigning champion Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) must settle for seventh place behind Takuma Sato (AJ Foyt Entreprises) after experiencing overheating problems.

Alexander Red (Andretti Autosport) finished as the best rookie, arriving in 12th place ahead of Conor Daly (Dale Coyne Racing) and Spencer Pigot (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing), while Max Chilton (Chip Ganassi Racing) took 17th place. Sebastian Bourdais (KVSH Racing) retired on contact.

Discover the report of the St Petersburg Grand Prix produced by our special correspondent in issue 2054 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.