By David Morgan, Associate Editor
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Kyle Kirkwood has started his run at the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series off on a hot foot, leading the way in Friday’s opening practice for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Kirkwood hustled his No. 27 Andretti Global Honda around the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit in one minute, 0.4409 seconds to jump to the top of the board in the first of two groups late in the session once the field switched to the Firestone alternate tires.
“I think we were in this position last year where we were quick out of the gate,” Kirkwood said. “We have to continue that. Good day for the Chili’s Honda. First official session of the year, we’ve led. Extremely happy with that. Happy that we know our cars are still quick around street courses. All positive.
The native Floridian added that the speed that Andretti rolled into St. Pete with was hopefully a continuation of the speed that the organization finished out the 2024 season with.
“I hope this is just a continuation of what we ended the season like last year and hopefully it puts us in a place that we’re true contenders in the championship,” Kirkwood said.
“I think it’s no secret that Andretti has been good around street courses, so it’s not a surprise to anyone. Where we need to prove ourselves are on other circuits other than street courses because we’re always fast around these.”
Defending series champion Alex Palou was second overall at one minute, 0.6004 seconds, followed by Scott McLaughlin in third, Colton Herta in fourth, and defending race winner Pato O’Ward in fifth.
The remainder of the top-10 overall would be rounded out by Marcus Ericsson, Marcus Armstrong, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, and Will Power.
“It was different,” Newgarden said. “Just compared to last year, we didn’t have the hybrid here is probably the biggest year-over-year change. Then the tires have taken an alteration, if you will. It’s a known thing. We’ve been working on this in the off-season.
“Firestone has been pretty transparent and open that we’re looking for a different mix between the primary and the alternate. They definitely have different properties to what they had last year. A lot to dive in.
“There wasn’t a lot of laps. I ran prelim laps on the primaries and then I did that one run on the alternate. Felt really good on the primaries, so-so on the alternates. I didn’t really do a good lap at all. Kind of understand why. We’re going to pick apart everything tonight and try to be in a big spot for tomorrow.
“Good to be back. What a great atmosphere today. I think St. Pete has typically felt like this even on a Friday, but today looked really, really great. Nice to be back at the track.”
Treacherous Turn 3
Turn 3 was calamity corner for the majority of the session, with a number of drivers running into trouble in the high-speed right-hander.
Both Meyer Shank Racing drivers, Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Armstrong, tested the limits of their Hondas, literally, as they both spun in Turn 3, but managed to stay off the wall – somehow – coming within inches of making contact, but came away unscathed.
https://twitter.com/IndyCar/status/1895574526081261690
Armstrong noted afterwards that the additional weight of the hybrid unit this weekend has caught some teams out, and both of the MSR cars were on the lucky end of things.
“We didn’t hit anything, luckily,” said Armstrong. “It’s very bumpy there and I think with the extra weight from this hybrid unit, it’s hitting the deck pretty hard there. Especially when we raised the minimum speeds with the alternate tires.
“I was lucky. I think Felix was lucky as well. I was actually trying to do a bit of Gran Turismo and move the wheel away from the wall sort of thing. It was lucky and a mistake that won’t happen again, hopefully.”
However, Scott McLaughlin in his No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet didn’t have Lady Luck roll his way.
After putting up the third-fastest time of his group in practice, Turn 3 put an end to his solid afternoon.
As he exited the Turn, the right side of his Chevrolet made contact with the wall and while he was able to continue on for about a football field, the suspension on the right front of his machine gave way and sent him for a spin.
McLaughlin climbed from his car unhurt, but his No. 3 team will have some work ahead tonight to get ready for second practice at 10:00 am ET on Saturday.
“It was a little bit of a mistake on my part, unfortunately,” said McLaughlin. “The DEX Imaging Chevy was feeling pretty good. I was a little wide on the exit of Turn 3, through 3 and there’s a little bit of a bump there. The bump just put me a little bit wider than I wanted and there’s no grip out there.
“Bit of a bummer of a mistake, but you’d rather have it happen now and get on with the weekend. I’ll be flat there tomorrow morning. We’ll be fine.
A crash for Scott McLaughlin in opening @IndyCar practice!
He has been seen and released from the medical center in St. Petersburg. pic.twitter.com/BTOzIuTEik
— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) February 28, 2025
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