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March 28, 2012

(Phillip Abbott/INDYCAR/LAT USA)
Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Shell V-Power/Pennzoil Ultra Chevrolet) won the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg for the third time last Sunday, getting back to the winner's circle for the first time in more than a year. Under intense pressure to deliver again after the meteoric success of teammate Will Power, Castroneves passed Scott Dixon (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) for second place on the outside of Turn 1 on Lap 73 and went on to score the 26th win of his Indy car career, which ties him with Rodger Ward for 15^th on the all-time win list.

(F. Pierce Williams/INDYCAR/LAT USA)
Scott Dixon finished second in his Honda-powered machine, which was good for points but Castroneves and the other Chevy-powered entries were clearly the class of the field.

(Phillip Abbott/INDYCAR/LAT USA)
Ryan Hunter-Reay of (No. 28 Andretti Autosport Team DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda Chevrolet) came home in third.

(Michael L. Levitt/INDYCAR/LAT USA)
James Hinchcliffe (No. 27 Andretti Autosport Team GoDaddy.com Chevrolet) clowned around before the start in driver introductions as "Manica" poking fun at Danica Patrick while wearing a long black wig. Hinchcliffe was no joke on the track, however, as he delivered a very racy fourth place finish.

(F. Pierce Williams/INDYCAR/LAT USA)
The new DW12 IndyCar is going to take some getting used to, that's for sure.

(Michael L. Levitt/INDYCAR/LAT USA)
Simon Pagenaud (No. 77 Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports Honda) finished a very impressive sixth behind Ryan Briscoe in the No. 6 Team Penske car. Next up for the IZOD IndyCar Series is the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama on April 1 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala. The race will be telecast live at 2 p.m. (ET) by NBC Sports Network. The IMS Radio Network will also carry the race live on XM Channel 94 and Sirius 212.

(Michael L. Levitt/INDYCAR/LAT USA)
"It's been a little while, but it never gets old," Castroneves said. "Certainly it's good to be back in victory circle, what a great group of guys, I have to thank also my teammates as well, they are incredible. No question, these guys are awesome, Ryan (Briscoe) and Will (power), and for me it's a great Chevy-power group, it's been always consistent. It might not be the quickest, but I did say out loud, 'If I start in the top six, I'll win this race.' And we did it, we are here in Victory Circle." Asked about the different strategies employed by the three-car Team Penske effort Castroneves said, "Well certainly the start of the race I didn't want to do the same mistakes that we did last year, so I want to make sure we cooled down, we kept cool, we lost probably one position, but everything was fine until the play started playing in our hand, and (race strategist) John (Erickson) and (engineer) Ron (Ruzewski) decided let's do something crazy. I saw my teammates pit, we decided to go in the opposite way and it paid off." Castroneves did his fence climbing bit in Turn 10 and then crossed the track to acknowledge Dan Wheldon by climbing the fence where the road sign saying "Dan Wheldon Way" was placed. Helio continued, "You can never question God's mysteries, and today for me, I ended up stopping [my car] on Turn 10, and honestly I did not plan it, it was just the way it happened, and there was the sign Dan Wheldon Way. So for me, and for all of us, the drivers and the fans, not having him here certainly we'll miss. But we've got to remember him as he lived, the way he lived, and continue to pray for his family."

(Phillip Abbott/INDYCAR/LAT USA)
Tristan Vautier (No. 77 Mazda Road to Indy/Sam Schmidt Motorsports) won the St. Petersburg 100 Firestone Indy Lights series race by 1.0391 seconds over his Sam Schmidt Motorsports teammate Esteban Guerrieri. Sebastian Saavedra moved up one position to claim third place in the No. 27 Team AFS car and Oliver Webb was fourth in his series debut in the No. 7 Lucas Oil Sam Schmidt Motorsports car. Vautier is the 10th driver to win his debut race in the series and the sixth who has won his debut at St. Petersburg (Marco Andretti, Raphael Matos, Junior Strous, J.K. Vernay and Josef Newgarden).

(Mark Weber/SCCA

Driving the No. 1 Privacy Star/Entrust Porsche 911 GT3, Lawson Aschenbach came back less than 24 hours after SCCA Pro Racing stripped him of a Race 1 victory due to a pass under caution to win the Pirelli World Challenge Championship/Acura Sports Car Challenge. The 2011 Touring Car and 2006 GT champion started Race 2 of the St. Petersburg doubleheader from the pole position by virtue of turning the fastest lap in Race 1, and comfortably pulled away from the rest of the field on the initial start and led every lap en route to a 4.591-second victory over Johnny O'Connell (No. 3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac CTS-V ), of Flowery Branch, Ga. It was Aschenbach's sixth career victory in World Challenge competition and his third St. Pete win. Andy Pilgrim, of Marina Del Rey, Fla., finished third in the No. 8 Cadillac Racing CTS-V Coupe.

(Mark Weber/SCCA)

Subbing for 2011 GTS champion Paul Brown, Justin Bell (No. 50 eBay Motors Boss 302S), of Los Angeles, Calif., put together a solid second half charge in the Round 2 race to go two-for-two in the GTS class of the Pirelli World Challenge. Peter Cunningham, of Milwaukee, Wis., started his No. 42 RealTime/Acura/HPD Acura TSX from the class pole position and finished second, while third place went to Andy Lee, of Colorado Springs, Colo., in the No. 20 Best IT Chevrolet Camaro.

(Mark Weber/SCCA)
Michael Cooper (No. 03 MAZDASPEED Motorsports MAZDASPEED3), of Syosset, N.Y., went two-for-two in the Touring Car portion of the Pirelli World Challenge race. Todd Lamb, of Atlanta, Ga., took his second straight second-place Touring Car result in the No. 71 National Karting News/HPD Honda Civic Si and polesitter Tristan Herbert, of Reston, Va., wound up third in class in the No. 33 Brimtek/GermanAutoParts.com Volkswagen GTI.

Editor-in-Chief's Note: Check out Michelin's racing website - "Michelin Alley" - and get in on all of the behind-the-scenes buzz. Go here. - PMD

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