Josef Newgarden dominated proceedings in St. Petersburg, leading 92 laps and winning by over 8 seconds, ahead of Pato O’Ward, Scott McLaughlin and Will Power. 

Colton Herta was the highest Andretti Global finisher in 5^th, holding off defending champion Alex Palou in 6^th as front row starter Felix Rosenqvist was just behind the pair. Alexander Rossi and Scott Dixon both made decent progress into the top 10, which was rounded out by Rinus VeeKay.

Marcus Ericsson had been running well in 6^th, but saw his race come to an early end on lap 53, suffering from an engine issue. Romain Grosjean qualified 5^th, but made contact with Linus Lundqvist on lap 69, resulting in a drive-through penalty. Grosjean would eventually retire with a gearbox issue. 

Whilst not as chaotic as last year, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was a thoroughly enjoyable affair, with plenty of action throughout the field, as Newgarden cruised to a third win on the Floridian streets. 

Revitalised Newgarden lays down marker and blasts to season-opening victory  

After a tough end to the 2023 season, Josef Newgarden was determined to get back into a headspace of loving INDYCAR racing. 

‘I think getting back to some simplicity would be good for me’ said Newgarden in January, and in order to focus himself he unfollowed everyone on social media, forcing himself to focus on his family, and his career. 

The results of this are already evident. Newgarden won the NTT P1 award yesterday by a mere 0.0058 seconds, his first pole position since 2022. However, the job was nowhere near complete. 

In the opening stint, he held off the Meyer Shank Racing car of Felix Rosenqvist, and throughout the race, Newgarden simply drove away from the chasing O’Ward, McLaughlin and Power to round out a comfortable victory, in which he led over ninety laps. 

‘I had a lot of fun today, a lot of fun!’ said Newgarden in his post-race interview. ‘We didn’t have the speed we needed on road and street courses last season’. This was Newgarden’s first non-oval win since the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America in July 2022, and his first win on a street course since April of that same year. 

‘I feel very relaxed right now, I was very excited initially but then kind of calmed down’. This new side to Newgarden will take some stopping.  

Penske show their hand as Chip Ganassi Racing struggle 

Having played second fiddle to Andretti Global and Chip Ganassi Racing in 2023 on street courses, Team Penske sought to improve their Achilles heel from last year, with instant results. When asked about Team Penske’s marked street-course improvement, Newgarden said ‘I think it’s so deserving for the work that they’ve put in’.  

Further back, Scott McLaughlin pulled off an audacious lunge on the opening lap to grab 6^th from his 9^th place starting spot, and then made methodical moves towards the front, unable to get past Pato O’Ward and challenge his teammate. Will Power showed good pace to finish 4^th, and was comfortably the fastest driver on older tyres. 

Penske’s uptick in form contrasted with Chip Ganassi Racing’s disappointing Sunday, which saw Marcus Armstrong crash out on lap 26, and Linus Lundqvist tangle with Romain Grosjean on lap 69. 

The finishing Ganassi cars were Palou in 6^th, who began his championship defence with a measured drive having started 13^th, Dixon in 9^th and Simpson in 14^th, a significant drop in form from the team who sported two of the three podium positions here twelve months ago. Chip Ganassi and his team will be hoping that St. Petersburg is not an omen for things to come in 2024.

Andretti and McLaren best of the rest 

Coming into 2024, all eyes were on whether Andretti Global and Arrow McLaren could challenge Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske, as they attempt to put together strong championship runs amassing consistently strong results week in week out. 

Pato O’Ward began in 2024 as he left off last year, qualifying in the Firestone Fast Six and then working his way towards the front, eventually finishing in an impressive 2^nd place, despite being some eight seconds behind Newgarden. 

Teammates Alexander Rossi and Callum Ilott came home 8^th and 13^th respectively, with Rossi making up seven positions from his qualifying spot, and Ilott substituted reasonably well for David Malukas. 

Andretti will leave St. Petersburg frustrated, having had good pace but not a huge number of points to show for it. Ericsson’s engine issues and Kirkwood’s lowly starting spot meant Colton Herta flew the flag at the front of the field. Despite running inside the top three in the early stages of the race, Herta slipped to fifth, only just managing to hold off the fast charging Alex Palou to the chequered flag. 

Rosenqvist and VeeKay the standout drivers as intriguing season gets underway 

In Indycar, it is almost impossible to predict which of the lower teams will have good seasons. RLL seem to have been unable to shake off their troubles from last year, but Meyer Shank Racing and Ed Carpenter Racing both appear to have turned a corner in 2024. 

Felix Rosenqvist was denied the NTT P1 award on Saturday by the slenderest margin ever recorded in St. Petersburg, but took the lead on lap 28 as his crew performed the fastest pitstop during the first caution period.

Rosenqvist and his Jon Bon Jovi livery wrapped car battled hard with the top teams, and eventually came home in a respectable 7^th place, better than any result scored by MSR throughout all of 2023. 

For VeeKay, he has repaid the faith shown in him by Ed Carpenter, only just missing out on the Firestone Fast Six, before fighting well with Grosjean in the early portion of the race. VeeKay would eventually finish 10^th, but despite not having the pace to compete with those at the very front of the field, ECR can take heart in knowing that their street course demons appear to be fading in 2024. 

The biggest mover of the race was Pietro Fittipaldi for RLL, who moved up eleven places from his starting position to come home in 15^th. Santino Ferrucci also impressed, finishing in 11^th for AJ Foyt Racing. Teammate Sting Ray Robb suffered as brake failure, pulling off at Turn 1 and bringing out a caution on lap 34. 

The NTT Indycar Series heads to Palm Springs in California for the $1 Million Challenge at The Thermal Club on March 24^th, before the next points-paying race at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 20^th.