Beyond the top runners, other stories emerged from Sunday’s Verizon IndyCar Series’ season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg we didn’t hit in the last two days. Here’s a quick roundup:
- Rahal’s penalty call: Of the three avoidable contact penalties called on Sunday, the one assessed to Graham Rahal was easily the most questionable. Charlie Kimball’s car became something of a target halfway through the race when first Simon Pagenaud got into Kimball heading into Turn 4. Kimball, trying to limp back to the pits with left rear bodywork dangling, then turned into Turn 10 when Rahal’s nose clipping him. Rahal took to Twitter after the race to note both his supporters – and haters – with the call earning more scorn than not. “Kimball had a broken car and I didn’t know what he was doing,” Rahal said post-race. “He was so slow off of Turn 9 that I thought he was pulling over and then he accelerates into the kink. He had a broken car and was slow. I went inside of him and then he broke deep. He was cranking in well before the apex so I was trying to bail out and I just tapped him. Sure enough, I dive inside him and he comes over. It’s a shame because the car was good today.”
- Letterman makes an appearance: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing co-owner David Letterman made his annual visit to Florida for the season opener. The retiring host of CBS’ “The Late Show,” said during a picture taken with his driver, “Look, it’s Graham Rahal with his grandpa.”
- Karam’s Ganassi debut: One finish, zero tearoffs used: The goal for Chip Ganassi Racing Teams rookie Sage Karam, in his IndyCar team debut and second overall start in the series, was to bring it home to the finish. He did, but discovered post-race he hadn’t used any of the visor tearoffs on his helmet. “I was so focused on taking care of the car and running good laps, I totally forgot. But all in all, I just tried to do what the team told me to, which was keep the car in one piece and run all the laps,” he said.
- Contact crushes Chaves, de Silvestro’s days: The other two avoidable contact penalties were issued when Gabby Chaves and Simona de Silvestro (started 11th) hit the pair of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammates; Chaves hit James Hinchcliffe and de Silvestro hit James Jakes, both at Turn 14. Chaves and Marco Andretti also had contact, while de Silvestro collided with her Andretti Autosport teammate, Carlos Munoz. “The incident with Carlos kind of started the whole downhill of our day,” de Silvestro said. “We lost a lot of pace after that incident and then we were kind of behind the ball a little bit. At the end, you just kind of keep going – you adapt to it (how the car changes after an incident). Then, it was unfortunate with (James) Jakes; he seemed to brake really early into the last turn and I couldn’t really avoid him.” Said Chaves of his day: “I learned so much today. The incident with the 5 car (Hinchcliffe): I saw an opening, but it closed up. I tried hard to avoid it, even getting down in the grass, but just couldn’t avoid it.”
