The second IRL event of the season at the Phoenix International Raceway resulted in a finish similar to the one that ended the 2004 season at Texas Motor Speedway with Sam Hornish Jr. taking the checkers just ahead of his teammate Helio Castroneves. Hornish has a series high 13 wins now in the IRL, the most wins of any driver since the Indy Racing League's inception in 1996.
Hornish kept his #6 Penske Toyota low on the track during a late race restart, forcing Dario Franchitti to take his #27 Andretti/Green Honda to the outside to make a pass. He ended up going too wide into the rubber marbles at the outside of the track and brushed the wall with his tires, slowing him enough to have to settle for a fourth place finish. He complained vigorously to officials claiming that Hornish blocked him into the wall, but video replays of the finish showed otherwise, making Franchitti out to be somewhat of a sore loser. We all have to take into consideration though; these guys are racing their hearts out in four-wheeled rockets at speeds reaching over 220 miles per hour. Their adrenalin is really peaked, and it takes quite a while for them to calm down after climbing out of their racecars.
Following Hornish across the finish line in the top ten were Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti, Scott Sharp, Dan Wheldon, Bryan Herta, Darren manning, Patrick Carpentier, and Kosuke Matsuura. The top ten starters and how they finished:
- Bryan Herta -- #7 Honda -- finished 7th
- Dan Wheldon -- #26 Honda -- finished 6th
- Helio Castroneves -- #3 Toyota -- finished 2nd
- Tomas Scheckter -- #4 Chevy -- finished 17th
- Dario Franchitti -- #27 Honda -- finished 4th
- Sam Hornish Jr. -- #6 Toyota -- finished 1st
- Tomas Enge* -- #2 Chevy -- finished 20th
- Scott Dixon -- #9 Toyota -- finished 12th
- Scott Sharp -- #8 Honda -- finished 5th
- Buddy Rice -- #15 Honda -- finished 22nd
The next event on the IRL schedule is The Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. This will be the inaugural event and the race will be run on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 3rd. The event will be televised live by the ESPN channel.
This new St. Petersburg event is one of three road racing events making up the 2005 schedule. The normal 16 race schedule has been extended this season to 17 races, with the addition of the St. Petersburg event. Also changed this season is the closing of Nazareth. The event usually scheduled there will now be a road race at Watkins Glen, NY. Texas Motor Speedway lost its second event to another road race in Sonoma, California at the Infineon Raceway.
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