| Race details | |
|---|---|
| 3rd round of the2010 IndyCar Series season | |
 | |
| Date | April 11, 2010 |
| Official name | Indy Grand Prix of Alabama |
| Location | Barber Motorsports Park,Birmingham, Alabama |
| Course | Road course 2.300 mi / 3.700 km |
| Distance | 90 laps 207.000 mi / 333.000 km |
| Weather | 77 °F (25 °C), clear skies |
| Pole position | |
| Driver |  Will Power (Team Penske) |
| Time | 1:10.1356 |
| Fastest lap | |
| Driver |  Justin Wilson (Dreyer & Reinbold Racing) |
| Time | 1:12.7853 (on lap 53 of 90) |
| Podium | |
| First |  Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske) |
| Second |  Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) |
| Third | Dario Franchitti (Chip Ganassi Racing) |
The2010Indy Grand Prix of Alabama was the third race of the2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season. The race took place on April 11, on the 2.300-mile (3.701 km)road course inBirmingham, Alabama, and was telecast byVersus in the United States.
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| This section is empty. You can help byadding to it.(January 2011) |
NBAHall of FamerCharles Barkley waved the green flag over the inauguralIndy Grand Prix of Alabama. Points leaderWill Power, looking for his third win in a row led frompole followed byMike Conway.Scott Dixon was ordered to relinquish third and fourth places toHélio Castroneves andMarco Andretti respectively after being judged to have jumped the start. Replays showed that he reached the start line before Castroneves, after having started behind him. The first yellow flag was displayed on lap 12 forJapanese ex-Formula One driverTakuma Sato, who stopped on-course in Turn 13 after a throttle failure.
During the yellow, many drivers decided to pit, including Power and Conway from first and second, but others decided to stay out, led by Castroneves and Andretti. Conway beat Power out of pit road but was ordered to give the position back after replays showed that Power had reached the pit lane blend line before Conway. On the restart, Andretti took the lead into Turn 5, and the leading quartet of Andretti, Castroneves, Dixon andDario Franchitti rapidly distanced themselves from the rest of the field.Simona de Silvestro ran an impressive fifth, unable to keep pace with the top four but well ahead of sixth-placedAlex Lloyd. The drivers who had pitted under the caution, including Power, Conway,Ryan Briscoe andJustin Wilson were all stuck in the mid-pack.
Andretti was the first of the leaders to make his first pit stop and he did so on lap 29. Castroneves and Dixon went two and one laps longer, respectively, but rejoined behind Andretti after their stops. The pace of the top three was such that Andretti, Castroneves and Dixon were still first, second and third after their stops, still ahead ofTony Kanaan, Will Power and the others who had stopped before or during the yellow. Franchitti moved back to fourth after Kanaan and Power pitted, but was now 7 seconds behind the leaders. Power rejoined sixth, and set about chasing down fifth-placed Simona de Silvestro. He passed her on lap 48 to take fifth, but he was 21 seconds behind fourth-placed Franchitti and 28 behind the lead trio.
The leaders continued on in the same order as before, with Andretti making his second stop on lap 57 whereas Castroneves made his on lap 61, and Dixon on lap 60. This cycled Andretti back to the lead but, unlike Castroneves and Dixon, he did not have enough fuel on board to take him to the end. Andretti had now begun to hit traffic as the leaders began to lap the drivers at the tail of the field. This allowed both Castroneves and Dixon to close right up to Andretti, but Andretti was able to resist the pressure and keep them behind him. However, he was forced to make aquick fuel stop on Lap 82 and thus hand over the lead to Castroneves after having led for 58 laps. He rejoined fifth behind Franchitti and Power.
On lap 85, with five laps left,Simona de Silvestro spun herHVM Racing car in Turn 5, apparently stalling the engine. This brought out a full-course caution and bunched the field up. Dixon was right behind Castroneves, but third-placed Franchitti had many lapped cars in between him and the lead duo. When the green flew, it left a two-lap shootout to the finish. Castroneves finished half a second ahead of Dixon and took his 17thIndy Racing League win, and was the 23rd of hiscareer. He broke a tie withEmerson Fittipaldi to become the winningestBrazilian driver in IndyCar history. It was also his first win as a father, as he held his daughter Mikaella in victory lane. Franchitti held Power off to take third, and Andretti had to make do with fifth. Ryan Briscoe finished sixth in the thirdPenske car, with Justin Wilson, Tony Kanaan, Mike Conway andAlex Tagliani rounding off the top 10. Remarkably, all 25 starters were running at the finish; 25th place runner Sato finished 22 laps behind the leaders after theKV mechanics repaired his car.
| Pos | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Will Power | 136 |
| 2 | Hélio Castroneves | 104 |
| 3 | Dario Franchitti | 94 |
| 4 | Justin Wilson | 85 |
| 5 | Scott Dixon | 80 |
| Previous race: 2010 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg | IZOD IndyCar Series 2010 season | Next race: 2010 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach |
| Previous race: None | Indy Grand Prix of Alabama | Next race: 2011 Indy Grand Prix of Alabama |
