St. Petersburg Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer What was shaping up to be a fantastic battle for the race win went straight to hell in a heartbeat. Both pole sitter Romain Grosjean and defending Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg winner Scott McLaughlin crashed on Lap 72, bringing out the final full course caution. McLaughlin was able to continue his race, but the contact ended Grosjean’s afternoon after leading a race-high 31 of 100 laps. After making their final pit stops, McLaughlin just exited ahead of Grosjean, who pitted the lap before him.Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The brave men of the NTT IndyCar Series are back this weekend in one of sport’s traditional venues — the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Over the last 14 seasons, the 1.8-mile circuit have kicked off the season for 11 of those campaigns. Per usual, a lot of unknowns with racers moving to new places and others looking to make their names in INDYCAR. Among the major headlines are Arrow McLaren’s ongoing quest of pursuing that elusive Astor Cup and become the first team sinceRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Defending NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou came up short of starting the championship trail with a win. Instead of celebrating a win in Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Palou crossed the line in second. After a heavy shunt during Saturday’s practice, Palou had his work cut out for. Through perseverance and all-around teamwork, it became an overall positive weekend for the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing crew. “It was a great weekend. We started struggling a lot. Obviously my little contact with theRead More

By INDYCAR ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Talk about making an entrance. Romain Grosjean led the first practice of the 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season in his first official drive with Andretti Autosport, pacing the Friday afternoon session for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding on the streets of the Florida city. Grosjean’s best lap of 1 minute, 1.0525 seconds in the No. 28 DHL Honda led by more than a tenth of a second over reigning event winner and Andretti teammate Colton Herta, second atRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer For the first time since 2004, the NTT IndyCar Series kicks off its season in February. Like in 2004, the championship trail began in Florida, but rather than Homestead-Miami Speedway, it’s at the St. Petersburg street circuit. Entering the first round of a 17-round odyssey, the field is arguably one of the more stronger ones in recent memory. This Sunday, 26 drivers are eager of getting the campaign going with aspirations of delivering a strong result. Some drivers like Will Power and Alexander Rossi aren’t hesitantRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Alexander Rossi endured a tough series of events in a matter of a lap in Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The hell ended in an incident with Graham Rahal in Turns 4-5 on Lap 37, negatively impacting their race. Running in second, Rossi came to pit road for red compounds after starting the race with primary blacks. A slow right rear tire change slowed the stop down a bit and exited out in 13th, ahead of Rahal. Rahal was looking to pass RossiRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer From crashing out on the opening lap at Barber to finishing second at St. Petersburg, it was a strong rebound for Josef Newgarden. The same can be said about Colton Herta, who ended up winning Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg by 2.4933 seconds. Ironically, it was Herta who crashed into Newgarden last Sunday, resulting on their tough start to their seasons. Now with each getting a top-two result, Newgarden was satisfied putting themselves on the board. “Congrats to Colton. Great rebound for bothRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Qualifying is crucial for an IndyCar driver’s chances of delivering an outstanding result. More so in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg as indicated by outside pole sitter Jack Harvey. Clocking in at 01:00.5709, Harvey wasn’t able to capture that elusive NTT P1 Pole Award during Saturday’s qualifying. Instead, it was his pseudo-teammate Colton Herta (01:00.3210) who went 0.2499 seconds quicker in the Firestone Fast Six. Nonetheless, Harvey was thrilled about starting on the front row for the third time of his career. “IRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Josef Newgarden’s quest for a St. Pete three-peat starts off on a positive note, topping Friday’s practice session. Newgarden was one of seven drivers who had a time below 61 seconds with him setting time of 1:00.803. The two-time IndyCar champion made it clear that his Lap 1 error from Barber Motorsports Park is the least of his concerns. With a strong start to his weekend, can you blame him? “It’s so early. As far as points go, it’s not ideal. Obviously in a perfectRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer For the second time in six months, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg takes center stage for the NTT IndyCar Series. While it was intended to be this season’s opening round, that honor went to Barber Motorsports Park last Sunday. That race certainly had a mixed bag of cars setting themselves apart due to excellent strategy. Look no further than Alex Palou, who won the opening round and determined to continue his momentum in Florida. “We’re coming from our first win to a streetRead More