By Andrew Cutler
April 6 2009

With the IndyCar future of teammate Helio Castroneves still unkown, Team Penske is looking to Ryan Briscoe to be the "lead" driver on the squad. Today the Aussie showed that he was up to the task, surviving a physically draining, crash-filled race to bring home the victory.

After starting from the fourth grid spot, Briscoe avoided the 1st turn melee that made quick work of polesitter Graham Rahal's victory chances (although he would work his way back to finish in 7th), and then chased down early race leader Justin Wilson. Taking advantage of a restart on lap 86 of the 100 circut event, Briscoe grabbed the lead & never looked back. Wilson would fade to 3rd, having been passed by Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Afterwards, Briscoe noted that things were not quite as easy as they looked. "The conditions were tough; it was very tricky on restarts. The tires would get very cold and it would be very slippery. It was a challenge to keep it between the white lines and off the wall. I had some strong challenges from behind, but my car was very strong today and I was able to hold them off." 

Here are complete race results:

http://www.indycar.com/stats/boxscores/2009/stpete_04052009.pdf 

The Firestone Indy Lights Series also held two races this weekend; their only "double header" of the 2009 season. Dutch rookie Junior Strous, driving for the brand new Winner's Circle Group team, won both events, showing some impressive passing and car control skills in the process.

The biggest "loser" of the weekend was the IndyCar website's new Race Control feature, which promised live video streaming of the event, but suffered from numerous technical difficulties when the time came. Hopefully, they can get the "bugs" worked out in time for the next event, April 19 on the streets of Long Beach, CA.