ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (April 1, 2007) - In a race filled with difficulties, Canadian Club driver Dario Franchitti had one of the most impressive runs of the day, battling back from dead last early in the race to take fifth place at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the temporary street circuit in St. Petersburg, Florida.

On the first lap of the race, Franchitti and teammate Tony Kanaan made contact and Franchitti sustained damage to the left front suspension of the car, forcing him into the pits where he went a lap down.  He was forced to bring the car back into the pits for additional repairs on the very next lap.  On this second stop, he received a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit-lane in an attempt to remain only one lap behind the leaders.  A second full course caution allowed Franchitti to remain on track and return to the lead lap.  Although he suffered additional problems including losing the cooling mechanism in his brakes, Franchitti battled back from the brink of going two laps down to take fifth place.

Helio Castroneves captured the win in the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and Scott Dixon earned the runner-up finish.  Teammates Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti finished third and fourth, respectively.

The third round of the IndyCar Series season takes place at Twin Ring Motegi with the Indy Japan 300.  Live coverage of the race can be heard on XM Satellite Radio channel 144 on Friday, April 20 at 11:30 p.m. EDT.  The event will be televised on a tape-delayed basis on Saturday, April 21 at 12 p.m. EDT

Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club  Dallara/Honda/Firestone:

"I have to thank the Canadian Club team for fixing the car.  We had an unfortunate incident on the first lap because we had some understeer on cold tires.  TK came around the outside and we came together.  We'll just put it down to a racing incident.  The guys did a great job putting the car back together.  The main thing was that the last 50 laps, we lost the cooling in the brakes and I had to time it into the corners.  I was in trouble.  The car wasn't 100% after the incident, but the guys did a great job getting it as straight as possible.  The main thing is that we didn't give up.  And I really want to thank my crew."