“On the last lap, you just don’t want your focus to get off of the car and the race so, for me, I just needed to keep calm and make it through the last set of corners, especially since there was a yellow out on turn eleven. I just wanted to be cautious, but I knew we had quite the gap, so I wasn’t too worried. This has just worked out so well. It’s awesome.”
Rahal Sr, who runs a rival team in the IRL-sanctioned series, was naturally delighted for his son, who joins Buzz Calkins - in the first ever IRL event at Walt Disney World in 1996 - Juan Montoya and Scott Dixon as first-start winners.
“Do you think he’ll ever listen to any advice from me again?” he smiled, “He really thinks he knows everything now. But he drove a phenomenal race and the crew did a great job. The engineer gave him a great car, and he was fast at the end. That’s the best conditions, a lot of people banging each other, and he kept it together. I’d hire him, but I can’t afford him. I’m really pleased. Pleased for him and pleased for the team.”
The second round of the newly-amalgamated IndyCar Series started in wet conditions after rain soaked the Florida street course minutes before the green flag dropped, and the scheduled 100-lap distance was eventually shortened to 83 laps to fit into the two-hour time limit. Castroneves finished second in the best of the Team Penske Dallara-Hondas, while polewinner Tony Kanaan finished third for race promoter Andretti Green Racing.
“It was so close," Castroneves said, "Team Penske did everything we could to get that car set up well but, in the slow section, the car was really pushing and I couldn’t take a chance. I’m happy because this proves that good teams with good drivers can do well, and I’m extremely excited with the two series coming together. Second place is good - obviously I wanted to win the race, but I’ll take it. In terms of the season championship, second is worth a lot.”
![Graham Rahal celebrates victory in St Petersburg [pic credit: IRL/Haines]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/426258.jpg)
