Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The season opener of the NTT IndyCar Series saw a lot of action that resulted in six retirements, notably in the first 30 laps that took out some of the heavy favorites in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in Florida. One of the major storylines heading into the 110-lap contest was the struggles of two-time St. Pete winner Sebastien Bourdais, who was eyeing on a three-peat at the 1.8-mile circuit. His bid for a three-peat was already facing multiple roadblocks. Not only he hadRead More

By INDYCAR ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Sunday, March 10, 2019) – When Josef Newgarden ran longer, harder and faster in a middle stint of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, it paid off with victory at the end. Newgarden kicked off the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series season victorious by 2.8998 seconds over reigning series champion Scott Dixon. It was the 11th triumph of Newgarden’s eight-year NTT IndyCar Series career but first on the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street course that incorporates a runway of Albert Whitted Airport. “I feel like weRead More

By INDYCAR ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – The streets of St. Petersburg have become Will Power’s qualifying playground. The Team Penske veteran continued his amazing dominance of NTT P1 Award qualifying for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, laying down the best lap Saturday in the Firestone Fast Six to earn the race’s pole position for the eighth time in 10 years. The Australian now accounts for half the pole positions in the history of the event and has won the race on two occasions (2011, 2015). FIRESTONE GRAND PRIXRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG — Two-time defending race winner and St. Petersburg resident Sebastien Bourdais left Friday’s practice for the opening round of the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series season with a bit of frustration ahead of Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser/Sullivan driver was 11th in the first Friday practice session and 18th in the second practice session and the No. 18 Sealmaster Honda was not handling the way Bourdais wanted it to. “We know what’s not working, we just don’tRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG — Friday for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg had many interesting happenings across all the INDYCAR system so let’s take a look from the top down. In the NTT IndyCar Series practice sessions, Felix Rosenqvist led the first session in his first race for Chip Ganassi Racing in the No. 10 NTT Data Honda. The Swede was ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay in the first session but Hunter-Reay’s No. 28 Andretti Autosports DHL Honda led the second session. What’s more odd is thatRead More

By INDYCAR ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – Taking advantage of racing in their home state, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Spencer Pigot set the pace in practice as the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series season opened at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG: Practice 1 I Practice 2 I Combined practice results Hunter-Reay was fastest overall in Friday’s two practices, turning a lap of 1 minute, 0.8969 of a second (106.409 mph) on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary circuit that encompasses city streets and a runway of Albert Whitted Airport. His standard-setting lapRead More

By Road to Indy ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – After one exploratory outing at the end of last year, then joining forces over the winter with eight-time defending champion team Cape Motorsports, Braden Eves began the new Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship season with one goal and one goal only: to win. The 19-year-old from New Albany, Ohio, did just that in today’s season-opening St. Petersburg Grand Prix Presented by Andersen RacePark. Eves, who secured the pole position in qualifying yesterday afternoon, was never seriously challenged during a crash-marred 40-minute race. HeRead More

By INDYCAR INDYCAR announced today during the North American International Auto Show that global information technology and communications leader NTT has signed a multiyear agreement to become the IndyCar Series title partner. In addition, NTT becomes the official technology partner of INDYCAR, the IndyCar Series, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Brickyard 400 beginning in 2019. INDYCAR will partner with NTT to deliver digital innovations that enhance the fan experience. These innovations include the evolution of INDYCAR’s mobile application and adoption of NTT’s proprietary Smart Platform to supportRead More

By Josh Farmer, Contributing Journalist Motorsports Tribune reviews the season of the top 12 drivers from the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. Our list continues with the eighth-place finisher, Graham Rahal. Graham Rahal, No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 2018: 8th in the championship  Wins: 0, Top 5: 3, Top 10: 12, Poles: 0, Laps Led: 29 Best Finish: 2nd (Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg) For a driver that established himself over the past few seasons as one of the more exciting drivers in the series, Graham Rahal hadRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer A.J. Foyt Racing entered the St. Petersburg street circuit Sunday with high expectations after a series of great test runs during the off-season. Once the green flag came out, their expectations took a backseat and became a race of recovery for both Brazilian drivers Tony Kanaan and Matheus Leist, who finished 11th and 24th, respectively, in the INDYCAR Series season opener. The first problems from the Foyt camp unfolded on Lap 1 after Andretti Autosport driver Zach Veach punted 10th place starter Kanaan in TurnRead More