The first race of the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series took place at Barber Motorsports Park last week, and Alex Palou picked up his first win in the IndyCar sport. He got that win in his very first race, driving the #10 car to victory. He beat Will Power, a two-time winner at Barber, by 0.4016 seconds. That was the closest margin of victory in 11 races at Barber. Jimmie Johnson, a seven-time champion in the NASCAR Cup Series, made his IndyCar debut at the age of 45. He started out in 21st and finished 19th, three laps back. Romain Grosjean moved over from Formula 1 to IndyCar, and he came in tenth. Thinking about including IndyCar in your sports betting this week?
Check out our IndyCar betting thoughts ahead of the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
NTT IndyCar: Firestone Indy Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Preview
Here are the results from Alabama, with place followed by starting position in parentheses:
1(3) Alex Palou
2(4) Will Power
3(5) Scott Dixon
4(1) Pato O’Ward
5(16) Sebastian Bourdais
6(14) Rinus VeeKay
7(18) Graham Rahal
8(6) Marcus Ericsson
9(2) Alexander Rossi
10(7) Romain Grosjean
11(11) Jack Harvey
12(15) Simon Pagenaud
13(19) Takuma Sato
14(12) Scott McLaughlin
15(13) Ed Jones
16(10) Conor Daly
17(24) James Hinchcliffe
18(23) Dalton Kellett
19(21) Jimmie Johnson
20(20) Max Chilton
21(22) Felix Rosenqvist
23(8) Josef Newgarden
24(17) Ryan Hunter-Reay
The course runs 1.8 miles with 14 turns, using streets in St. Petersburg, Florida, as well as the east-west runway at the Albert Whitted Airport as the main straightaway. Using city streets means that testing is not possible, and so teams use circuits with bumps to attempt to replicate the experience of driving on city streets. What teams cannot test, though, is the crown that drivers find on city streets. The center of the road is the highest, with the lanes slanting away, to provide for drainage, and that can alter mechanical setups and damping. Street circuits also offer 90-degree corners, as well as unorthodox corners that offer opportunities for passing. At this course, heading into Turn 1 is the top place to pass. Turn 10, a quick left-hand turn on the rear of the circuit, and the quick chicane on Turns 11 and 12 can also offer opportunities to make a move.
How about Sebastian Bourdais? That makes two straight top-five finishes, as he finished the 2020 campaign with a fifth-place finish at St. Petersburg…the same course where the drivers will run this weekend. Bourdais also won back-to-back races at St. Petersburg in 2017 and 2018, and he’s definitely worth the value pick, as he will bring tons of confidence in with him.
Jimmie Johnson told reporters that his goal was not to finish last, and he definitely slid over that low bar. There were four drivers who did not finish (including a pair who crashed in the opening lap), but even among those who were still running at the end, Johnson was not last, coming in ahead of Max Chilton. He’s not ready to be considered a contender in this sport yet, but I don’t expect someone with such a dominant career in auto racing to have a slow learning curve.
Scott Dixon now has nine podium finishes in his last 11 races. Chip Ganassi Racing as a team had a huge day at Barber, with Palou taking first and Marcus Ericsson coming in eighth. The competition within that team will be an interesting sideshow as the season goes along, but Dixon coming in behind Palou could give him the motivation he needs to move from the bottom slot of the podium to the very center this week.
Will Power got off to a great start with that second-place finish. Of the drivers in the NTT IndyCar Series, he has more emotion in his motivation than many of his competitors, and so that second-place result in the season opener had him flashing big smiles in all directions. He’s an interesting pick to win on the street course at St. Pete.
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