About 25,000 fans turned up at sunny Homestead in Florida, USA to see the opening
race of the 2003 IndyCar series, being fought with new machines and new engines.
This is the third year that the IndyCar series has included this 1.5-mile oval built in
1995. Powered by Honda's Indy V-8 engine, Tony Kanaan of the Andretti Green Racing
team started from pole position, but he lost speed in the middle of the race after a pit
stop to fix handling problems and ended the race in fourth position.
It was a thrilling battle, sometimes with three cars racing flat out side by side, and six
drivers exchanging the lead a total of eight times. But it was Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi
Racing), starting in 12th place, who took the honors, setting a new course record of 1
hour 58 minutes 06.2062 seconds, a lightening average speed of 153.710 mph. Second
was Gil de Ferran of Team Penske, followed by teammate and twice consecutive Indy
500 winner Helio Castroneves.
The Andretti Green Racing team's two Dallara Honda machines got a rolling start from
the front row after qualifying first and second, and Michael Andretti and Kanaan
shared first position for the first 50 laps or so. Then it was Kanaan and the Honda
powered machine of Kenny Brack (Team Rahal) at the front. But Dixon was moving
gradually up through the field, and after taking the lead after the pit stop on lap 147
he held off all challenges until the checkered flag.
All five Honda drivers completed the course, with Andretti finishing in sixth place,
Dario Franchitti (Andretti Green Racing) just behind in seventh, Brack in 11th and
rookie Roger Yasugawa in 14th.
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March 2, 2003
