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Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg – Pre-Race Notes & Quotes

Topics: Alex Tagliani, Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg – Pre-Race Notes & Quotes

Monica Hilton
Bryan Herta Autosport
March 20, 2013

Fast Facts

Driver: Alex Tagliani
Car: No. 98 Barracuda Racing
Primary sponsor: Barracuda Networks
Event title: Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
Location: Streets of St. Petersburg, FL
Track: 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street circuit
2013 event counter: The Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is the 1st race (of 19) for the IZOD IndyCar Series
Practice sessions: Friday, March 22 from 11:10-11:55 a.m. and 2:40-3:25 p.m. EST; Saturday, March 23 from 10:25-11:10 a.m.
Qualifying: Saturday, March 23 from 2:05-3:15 p.m. EST
Race: Sunday, March 24 – Pre-race activities starting at 11:50 a.m. EST with an estimated green flag at 12:40 p.m. (110 laps)
Race broadcast (TV): Sunday, March 24 from 12-3 p.m. EST on NBC Sports Network
Race broadcast (radio): IMS Radio Network, XM 211 and Sirius 211

Driver Quote: Alex Tagliani

I’m very excited to start the season. It’s been a long winter but I’ve watched the Barracuda Racing team work hard on preparing a very competitive race car.

This is my second year with the same group of people and stability is very important in this sport. You can only showcase your talent when you have a good crew and car behind you, and to get to that point there’s a lot of work. The car gets developed and evolves based on driver input and what the engineer feels, so the type of relationship I have with my engineer Todd Malloy, is important. We’re still going to be a one-car team but we have an advantage: I can look at my own data from last year and that will be very helpful.

We also have new livery this year. The No. 98 has already turned a lot of heads at the Barber test and we had some amazing comments. With an attractive, competitive race car, I think as a group, we feel that we can have a very good season.

St. Pete is a great place to start the year. It’s a fun place with a fantastic street course. Hopefully the weather will cope with us and the fans should have a good time.

One other exciting part of this race weekend is that I’ll be driving with the Wish For Our Heroes sticker on my helmet. Recently, I had the chance to meet Charlie Lemon, one of the guys who’s protecting our country and a tremendous young person that required some help from the Wish For Our Heroes foundation. I decided to donate one of my helmets to raise money for what the foundation did for him and for others. I can’t wait to see him again in pit lane and run a solid race in St. Pete.

Social Media

Twitter
Barracuda Racing: @BHA
Alex Tagliani: @tagliani
Barracuda Networks: @barracuda
Bowers & Wilkins: @Bowers_Wilkins
Facebook
Barracuda Racing: facebook.com/BryanHertaAutosport
Alex Tagliani: facebook.com/ATagliani

Fan Opportunities
Barracuda Racing presents the INDYCAR Tweetup on Saturday, March 23 from 12:30-1:15 p.m. on the IndyCar Fan Village Main Stage.

IZOD IndyCar Series autograph session with Alex Tagliani: Saturday, March 23 from 4:15-5:15 p.m. in the IndyCar Fan Village.