Marlboro Team Penske's Helio Castroneves led 95 of 100 laps as he successfully defended his 2006 Honda Indy Grand Prix crown on the 1.8-mile St Petersburg street circuit.
From pole position Castroneves was only headed thanks to the pit strategy of others and even went as far as to nudge an out-of-sequence Dan Wheldon out of the way before the green flag waved for the second of five restarts during the course of the race.
Escaping with no penalty, Castroneves only lost the lead for three laps from lap 34 onwards when Andretti-Green Racing's Marco Andretti inherited top spot during a round of green flag pitstops.
"It was all about consistency today," the Brazilian admitted, "Team Penske was incredible. The car was very consistent, although a little bit tough on the cold tyres.
"Almost everything was working perfectly. The gears started to wear a little and I had to be careful to not make any mistakes, especially on the brake point where the gears were tough. It was a great weekend. We worked very hard and it paid off in the end."
While nobody in the 18-car field had the machinery under them to pass Castroneves, Wheldon's Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon shadowed the fence-climbing Brazilian all the way home.
After dispatching Andretti for second place during the first green flag run between laps six and 28, Dixon never let Castroneves get more than a couple of seconds ahead and brought the gap down to just six-tenths of a second at the chequered flag after a dogged, but ultimately fruitless, chase.
"It's great for Target Chip Ganassi Racing," the Kiwi insisted after netting his second straight runners-up result of the season, "Two second place finishes after only two races this year puts us in the points lead.
"Helio had us covered, but I think we had a little more speed on cold tyres. We didn't make any mistakes and had a clean race, so it was a good day for us. Dan had a bit of a rough day, but he'll bounce back at the next race."
![Helio Castroneves - Team Penske [pic credit: IRL/McQueeney]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/291069.jpg)
