ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — James Hinchcliffe picked up his first career IndyCar Series victory in Sunday’s season opener at St. Petersburg, where Andretti Autosport showed it’s picked up right where it left off after last year’s championship season.
Hinchcliffe passed Helio Castroneves on the final restart to take the lead and held on to win by 1.09 seconds over defending race winner Castroneves. He becomes the first Canadian to win since Paul Tracy’s 2007 victory at Cleveland in the CART Series.
Marco Andretti used a late push to finish third, a career-best finish for him on the downtown street course. He passed Simona de Silvestra with two laps to go to get the podium finish, and de Silvestro lost two more spots before the checkered flag.
Tony Kanaan was fourth and Scott Dixon fifth.