Josef Newgarden managed proceedings from begin to end within the IndyCar season-opener at St Petersburg.
The Penske driver led 92 of the 100 laps and took the chequered flag over eight seconds forward of Pato O’Ward. The McLaren driver prevented Penske sweeping the rostrum, crossing the road with Scott McLaughlin and Will Energy on his tail.
Reigning champion Alex Palou climbed from thirteenth on the grid to complete sixth behind Colton Herta. Felix Rosenqvist, who shared the entrance row of the grid with Newgarden, slipped again to complete seventh in his first race for Meyer Shank.
Rosenqvists’s former staff mate Alexander Rossi was the second McLaren house in eighth, adopted by Scott Dixon for Ganassi and Rinus VeeKay for Carpenter.
Newgarden maintained his lead from pole place firstly and led a comparatively static opening stint pursued by Rosenqvist, Herta, O’Ward and Marcus Ericsson. The latter, final 12 months’s race-winner, was doomed to retire with a technical drawback shortly after half-distance.
On lap 27 Marcus Armstrong, the main Ganassi driver working in tenth place, snatched his front-left brake heading into flip 11 and hit the tyre barrier, struggling race-ending suspension injury.
The leaders piled into the pits beneath the primary warning interval of the race on lap 28. Meyer Shank carried out an outstanding cease for Rosenqvist, which moved him into the efficient lead behind Linus Lundqvist, the one driver to not pit at that time.
Advert | Grow to be a RaceFans supporter and
Newgarden fell to 3rd behind Herta. However as soon as the racing resumed the Penske driver shortly regained the place, his alternate compound tyres providing higher grip towards the primary-shod Andretti machine. O’Ward adopted him by, and on lap 33 they each took Rosenqvist.
As soon as Lundqivst pitted beneath a second warning interval triggered by Sting Ray Robb’s retirement, Newgarden was again within the lead. He maintained that place when the sector pitted once more throughout inexperienced flag working, and briefly had his lead as much as 4 seconds earlier than the race was neutralised once more.
This interruption was brought on by Romain Grosjean nudging Lundqvist into the flip 11 barrier. The previous F1 driver, in his first race for Juncos Hollinger, had began fifth however slipped down the order early on. He was penalised for the collision and later retired with a technical drawback.
After the ultimate restart Newgarden pulled away from O’Ward whereas McLaughlin and Energy labored their well past Herta and Rosenqvist to take up place behind him. Palou made his normal unobtrusive progress ahead, finally taking sixth from Rosenqvist.
When the chequered flag dropped Newgarden was comfortably away from the pursuing trio, who have been working nose-to-tail as they completed. Following Palou’s emphatic championship win final 12 months, this was a press release of intent about Newgarden’s need to beat his rival to a 3rd IndyCar title.
IndyCar Grand Prix of St. Petersburg race outcomes
P.No.DriverTeamEngine12Josef NewgardenPenskeChevrolet25Pato O’WardMcLarenChevrolet33Scott McLaughlinPenskeChevrolet412Will PowerPenskeChevrolet526Colton HertaAndretti/Curb-AgajanianHonda610Alex PalouGanassiHonda760Felix RosenqvistMeyer ShankHonda87Alexander RossiMcLarenChevrolet99Scott DixonGanassiHonda1021Rinus VeeKayCarpenterChevrolet1114Santino FerrucciFoytChevrolet1227Kyle KirkwoodAndrettiHonda136Callum IlottMcLarenChevrolet144Kyffin SimpsonGanassiHonda1530Pietro FittipaldiRLLHonda1615Graham RahalRLLHonda1766Tom BlomqvistMeyer ShankHonda1878Agustin CanapinoJuncos HollingerChevrolet1918Jack HarveyCoyneHonda2045Christian LundgaardRLLHonda2120Christian RasmussenCarpenterChevrolet2251Colin BraunCoyneHonda238Linus LundqvistGanassiHonda2477Romain GrosjeanJuncos HollingerChevrolet2528Marcus EricssonAndrettiHonda2641Sting Ray RobbFoytChevrolet2711Marcus ArmstrongGanassiHonda
Advert | Grow to be a RaceFans supporter and
IndyCar
Browse all IndyCar articles
