From the IRL
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Sunday, April 11, 2010 – Helio Castroneves won for the first time on a road/street course race since August 2008, taking the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by Legacy Credit Union at Barber Motorsports Park.
The three-time Indianapolis 500 winner inherited the lead when Marco Andretti had to pit for fuel eight laps from the end of the 90-lap race. Castroneves held off Scott Dixon by .5703 of a second, then thanked the spectators for attending the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Alabama with his trademark celebratory fence climb in Turn 9. Dario Franchitti, the reigning IZOD IndyCar Series champion, finished third.
Castroneves also denied teammate Will Power of a series-record third consecutive victory to start the season. Power, the polesitter who had to pit for the final time on Lap 63 (dropping him to seventh), advanced to fourth and retains the championship points lead by 32 over Castroneves (104). Franchitti is third (94) as the series heads to the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 18.
Also April 11, Rookie J.K. Vernay picked up a $5,000 bonus from Firestone for winning two Firestone Indy Lights races in a row winning the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.
Vernay, starting from the pole in the No. 7 Lucas Slick Mist/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, held off Charlie Kimball by 1.1542 seconds to win the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Alabama on the 2.38-mile Barber Motorsports Park.
Vernay, who won the season opener on the temporary St. Petersburg street circuit two weeks earlier, joined Junior Strous (2009) in earning the bonus. He takes a 33-point lead over Kimball in the Firestone Indy Lights championship standings heading to Long Beach. Kimball, driving the No. 26 Levemir FlexPen car for AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport, recorded a career best finish.
The estimated three-day total attendance for the inaugural event exceeded the goals of race promoter ZOOM Motorsports, which estimated more than 86,000 fans attended the three-days of racing at Barber Motorsports Park – including an estimated record crowd of 53,555 fans on April 11.
“The attendance more than doubled the largest event ever held here previously at Barber Motorsports Park,” said Gene Hallman, president and CEO of Zoom Motorsports. “The Indy Racing League product is a fast-growing and very demographically-dialed product for consumers in this market. Being the only race on the calendar in the Deep South, we were able to draw a lot of IndyCar fans into Birmingham, which helped us from a tourism perspective. The Indy Racing League is a tremendous partner and helped us immensely in this first year.”
Indy Racing League officials were equally pleased with the on-track product showcased in front of the fans who attended the first-year event.
“I think our first race at Barber Motorsports Park was a very successful event. There was a lot of action down in Turn 5 and we saw quite a bit of passing in Turn 11 as well. It was a very good show and entertaining for everybody.”