2008 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
| Race details | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd round of the 2008 IndyCar Series season | |||||
| Date | April 6, 2008 | ||||
| Official name | Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg | ||||
| Location | Streets of St. Petersburg | ||||
| Course | Temporary Street Circuit 1.800 mi / 2.897 km | ||||
| Distance | 83 laps 149.400 mi / 240.436 km | ||||
| Weather | 78 °F (26 °C), Rain & clouds | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Tony Kanaan ( Andretti Green Racing) | ||||
| Time | 1:02.5322 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver | Tony Kanaan ( Andretti Green Racing) | ||||
| Time | 1:03.8874 (on lap 76 of 83) | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Graham Rahal ( Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing) | ||||
| Second | Hélio Castroneves ( Penske Racing) | ||||
| Third | Tony Kanaan ( Andretti Green Racing) | ||||
| Chronology | |||||
| |||||
The 2008 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was the second round of the 2008 IndyCar Series season and took place on April 6, 2008 at the 1.8-mile (2.9 km) temporary street and airport circuit on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. The race was a time-limited race due to rain, with the race falling some seventeen laps short of full race distance. The race was won by Graham Rahal on his IndyCar Series debut, having missed the first round at Homestead-Miami Speedway, due to a lack of spare parts for his #06 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing machine.
At 19 years, 93 days old, Rahal became the youngest driver ever to win an Indy-style race, as well as the youngest winner in IndyCar Series history breaking Marco Andretti's record of 19 years, 167 days from the 2006 IndyCar Series season. He also became the fourth driver to win an IndyCar Series race in his first start, joining Buzz Calkins, Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Dixon.