After an interesting qualifying session today in St. Petersburg, there’s several stories to keep an eye on in tomorrow’s Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC). Let’s take a brief look at each of those.
1. A whipping in the works? Considering how pole sitter Will Power has had everything covered this weekend on the 1.8-mile street course, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a crushing performance from him on Sunday — rain or no rain. The only thing that may stop him from going two-for-two on the 2010 championship is a mistake on his part. But that has happened before. Back in 2008, he was ruling the proceedings in the exhibition weekend at Surfer’s Paradise, Australia, but in the race, he misjudged a turn and took his KV Racing Technology car into the wall while leading. No doubt that Power would prefer not to repeat that…
2. Contenders charging from the back. Due to problems in the first round of qualifying, usual favorites Dario Franchitti and Ryan Briscoe will have to battle hard from 13th and 19th starting positions respectively. If they can keep out of trouble — especially at the start when everyone funnels into the right-hand Turn 1 — they have the ability and equipment to get up front quickly. Will they choose to begin the race on the red alternate tires to help accomplish this purpose?
3. Unfinished business. Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s Justin Wilson drove like hell last year at St. Pete, but neither were unable to take down Briscoe in the end. Now, both of them have moved up to better teams and find themselves with greater chances to steal wins away from the Ganassi/Penske bloc. They can also end victory droughts for their respective teams; Andretti Autosport hasn’t won since Tony Kanaan’s triumph at Richmond in 2008, while DRR won its debut race in 2000 and hasn’t followed it with another during the last ten seasons!
4. Trouble, trouble everywhere. St. Pete has multiple hot spots for accidents, from the right/left combo of Turns 4 and 5 to the tight exit of the left-hand turn 10. What’s more, the narrow confines ensure that multiple cars can be taken out in a flash. If there’s rain involved tomorrow, the attrition rate could be high and another race of street survival may ensue for the IndyCar drivers.
5. Rahal gets back at it. Graham Rahal wasn’t able to get out of Round 1 of qualifying and will have to make his way from the back end of the field (he starts 16th). But he still bears watching since he’s a past winner at St. Petersburg and he’s driving the first of two races he’ll do for Sarah Fisher Racing. He has the ability to do well in St. Pete, but he’ll have to stay clean and he’ll likely need to use some patience as well.
