Houston, Texas
The first race day of the Grand Prix of Houston was fully-packed with action. Everywhere you go on the Reliant Park grounds, there was always something happening, especially the Indy Car paddock where the teams were getting ready for race number one of the 2-day race event.
As the time for the main race came closer, the teams started to take the cars to the pit lane and got ready for the start.
The crowds were gathering in and around the pit lane. This has to be one of the best experiences for every Indy race spectator. They get to walk the pit lane, interact with the teams, and get a closer look of the speed machines.
After some before-race rituals, the drivers started firing those mean-sounding engines for what was thought to be a rolling start.
They ended up doing a standing start, which did not really work out too well.
Ed Carpenter, in the number 20 Fuzzy's car, clipped the left side of the Go Daddy car on the get go.
The car did not fare too well with the slight collision. The rear right wheel got damaged badly, but the team was able to do some quick repairs for Carpenter to rejoin the race.
James Hinchcliffe's number 27 Go Daddy car was stalled during the start, which caused the damage on Carpenter's car. The Go Daddy car was hoisted up and brought back into the team paddock for some serious repair. The team was able to fix the car, but unfortunately, they lost some serious laps and never had the chance to get back into the competition. Hinchcliffe finished the race, though for six points.
After some delays, they decided to do a rolling start, which finally began the race.
Looking down into turn 10.
Turn 9 was an amazing vantage point for close-up shots of the cars.
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| Will Power - Team Penske |
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| Simon Pagenaud - Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports |
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| Simona de Silvestro - KV Racing Technology |
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| Luca Filippi - Barracuda Racing |
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| Tony Kanaan - KV Racing Techonolgy |
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| Sebastien Bourdais - Dragon Racing |
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| Ryan Hunter-Reay - Andretti Autosport |
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| Scott Dixon - Target Chip Ganassi Racing |
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| Marco Andretti - Andretti Autosport |
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| Justin Wilson - Dale Coyne Racing |
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| E.J. Viso - Team Venezuela/Andretti Autosport/HVM |
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| James Jakes - Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
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| Josef Newgarden - Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing |
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| Helio Castroneves - Team Penske |
Turn 9 also lent some sweeping views of the semi-fast turn.
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| Dario Franchitti - Target Chip Ganassi Racing |
The short straight away from turn 7 to turn 8 provided for a good view of the speedy machines with the Reliant Stadium in the background.
Turn 7 was a fast curve, which allowed for the cars to speed up from the tight left-hand turn of Turn 6.
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| Takuma Sato - A.J. Foyt Enterprises |
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| Oriol Servia - Panther Racing |
There was also a fast sweeping view of the cars from the same turn...
and the cars lined up nicely from the previous turn
Turn 7 was perfect for panning shots of the cars as they were gaining speed for the short straight away.
The nice and wide turn of Turn 7.
The cars would lean on their right for that sweeping turn.
Turn 6 was a 90 degree turn to the left, where the cars had to brake and speed down for the tight turn.
Sebastien Bourdais miscalculated the turn and overshot. He was able to do a 180 degree sliding turn to get back into the track.
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| Tristan Vautier - Schmidt Peterson Motorsports |
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| Mike Conway - Dale Coyne Racing |
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| Charlie Kimball - Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing |
The straight portion of the track right after the long and sweeping Turn 5 lent for some amazing back-lit views of the race. Some gaps in the track wall were nice for those slight peek views of the cars.
The race ended successfully without any major accidents and injuries. The number 9 car of Target Chip Ganassi Racing took the top honors and the spotlight.
Scott Dixon lead laps 38-63 and laps 73-90 to win it all. Will Power lead the race twice, while Takuma Sato only lead the race from the start up until the 6th lap.
Simona de Silvestro (Nuclear Entergy Areva - KVRT Chevrolet) took the second spot, and Justin Wilson (Dale Coyne Racing Honda) took third.
The victors also received a pair of custom-made boots from Texas National Outfitters. Dixon was just too happy and decided to wear the boots from there on.
A.J. Foyt presented the first place trophy to the owner of the Target Chip Ganassi Racing team.
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