Team Penske driver, Ryan Briscoe, won the inaugural race of the 2009 IndyCar Series yesterday, Sunday 5 April, in a thrilling event which took place on the streets of St. Petersburg. In his third season with Team Penske, Australian Briscoe clinched the lead following a restart on lap 86 and held off a fierce challenge from Ryan Hunter-Reay for the remaining 14 laps, winning by just 0.4169 seconds.
The victory was Briscoe's third of his IndyCar Series career; it was also the 30th win for Team Penske in the championship. Yesterday’s win is especially satisfying for Briscoe as he has failed to finish the race at St. Petersburg in the past two seasons.
St. Petersburg has now made its mark in IndyCar history for hosting the first season-opener on a street course. After occupying round two of the series for the past three years, St. Petersburg became the third Florida venue to host the opener.
Ryan Briscoe, #6 Team Penske Dallara/Honda/Firestone, said;
“It was pretty exciting. We had the different tyre compounds, which was a bit surprising because the ‘reds’ seemed a bit more consistent at the end of the stint for me. I saw an opportunity to pass Justin on that late restart, and then it was just a matter of bringing it home. We were one of the quickest cars out there today and Roger (Penske) called a great strategy. I’ve always led laps here and managed to stick it in the wall or something, so this is pretty satisfying.”
Al Speyer, Executive Director, Firestone Racing, said;
“The whole weekend was picture perfect for us – picture-perfect weather, picture-perfect introduction of the Firestone primary and alternate tyres, and an incredible amount of strategy that played out in the race due to the tyre choices. Once again, we saw exemplary performance from both the primaries and alternates. Both specs displayed tremendous competitiveness and durability. Most notable to me was Justin Wilson’s first stint on the alternates when they held up really well and kept him in the lead under tremendous pressure. True congratulations are in order for the entire podium. Ryan Briscoe and Team Penske did a sensational job to get the win; Ryan Hunter-Reay drove a great race and put in the longest stint of anyone on the alternates (37 laps) to give Vision Racing its best-ever finish; and Justin Wilson finished off a very impressive weekend in third place for Dale Coyne.”
“The whole weekend was picture perfect for us – picture-perfect weather, picture-perfect introduction of the Firestone primary and alternate tyres, and an incredible amount of strategy that played out in the race due to the tyre choices."