As fans along the 1.8-mile Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg temporary street circuit were escaping the start of a major storm, 22-year-old J.K. Vernay of France took the checkered flag in today’s rain-shortened Firestone Indy Lights season opener.
Just minutes before the end of the timed race, track announcers asked people in the grandstands and other areas of the track to go to places such as the Mahaffey Theater and the Progress Energy Park baseball stadium for cover. According to Planet-IRL.com’s Stephanie Wallcraft in St. Petersburg, race control has said that there is a window from 3:30-5 p.m. ET to start the IZOD IndyCar Series event that is slated for a 3:45 p.m. ET green flag.
Starting on the outside of the front row, Vernay was aided by a banzai move from Canadian driver Philip Major on the inside of the main straightaway that ended with him tagging fellow Canuck and polesitter James Hinchcliffe. The opening lap also saw Hinchcliffe’s teammate Adrian Campos Jr. hit the wall, knocking both Team Moore Racing entries out of the hunt.
A red flag period allowed teams to flip from dry slicks to wet tires, and Vernay managed to pull out to a 25-second lead before a yellow flag came out for an on-track incident on Lap 27. But neither runner-up Jan Heylen or third-place finisher Stefan Wilson had anything for the Frenchman, who pulled away once more and won by 11.2338 seconds. 35 of a scheduled 45 laps were completed.
Charlie Kimball and Gustavo Yacaman rounded out the top five.
