2022 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

Session Notes:

• The 2022 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was 100 laps on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit totaling 180 laps.
• The pit road speed was 50 mph and the race started the third time by the start-line flag stand with pole sitter Scott McLaughlin gridded drivers' left.
• The fuel window was 19–40 laps under green-flag conditions, depending on the pit strategy.
• All cars but those of Will Power, Graham Rahal, Alexander Rossi, Christian Lundgaard, Conor Daly, Takuma Sato, Tatiana Calderon and Jimmie Johnson started on alternate red-sidewalled Firestone tires.
• Just before the green flag, the ambient temperature in St. Petersburg was 78 degrees with sunny skies. The track temperature was 114 degrees according to Firestone engineers.
• The command to start engines was given by Kevin Welch, mayor St. Petersburg. All cars fired and rolled onto the track.
• The race featured one yellow flag and one penalty:
  • On Lap 25, the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda of David Malukas made contact with the barrier in Turn 3. The car came to rest in the middle of the track. The race returned to green on Lap 33 with the full-course caution period extended due to track repairs at the exit of Turn 3.
  • During put pit stops under caution, contact at pit exit led to a penalty issued to Marcus Ericsson. The driver of the No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was forced to restart from the rear of the field.
• McLaughlin led 49 laps in the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet en route to the driver's first NTT IndyCar Series victory. It marked the 223rd win for Team Penske in INDYCAR competition.
• Next up for the series is the XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway on March 20, 2022.
  

Session Notes:

• The 30-minute morning warm-up session — sometimes known as final practice — got underway at 8:45 a.m. EST on the streets of St. Petersburg.
• Serving as a final chance to prep for 100 laps of racing, warm-up was punctuated by two brief red flags:
  • Twenty minutes into the session, Jimmie Johnson spun the No. 48 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda in Turn 10 and stopped on course.
  • With two minutes left on the clock and after a close call with Romain Grosjean, the No. 06 Meyer Shank Racing Honda of Helio Castroneves spun in Turn 4 and stopped on course.
• A quick recovery from the final red flag allowed INDYCAR to show the green flag just before the clock ran out, allowing drivers on final lap to close out the session.
• Colton Herta, who won the 2021 edition of the race from pole, was fastest with a 1:00.3283.
  

Session Notes:

• Five minutes before the start of qualifying for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the ambient temperature was 78 degrees and the track temperature was 114 degrees according to Firestone engineers.
• All three rounds of qualifying ran without serious incidents.
• The first two rounds featured new track records in succession, displacing the previous track record of 1:00.0476 set by Jordan King of Ed Carpenter Racing on March 10, 2018:
  • In Group 1 qualifying, Colton Herta turned a 59.4662 in the No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda.
  • Will Power surpassed Herta's mark with a 59.3929 in the No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet during Group 2 qualifying.
  • Power beat his own record with a 59.3466 in Round 2.
• While there were no red flags during knockout qualifying, a penalty was issued to David Malukas who was judged to have interfered with Jimmie Johnson during Group 2 qualifying. Malukas was penalized his two fastest laps and the ability to advance.
• In the Firestone Fast Six, Scott McLaughlin edged out both his teammate Power and former record holder Herta with a 59.4821-second lap, securing the driver of the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet his first NTT IndyCar Series pole position.
  

Session Notes:

• The second practice of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg weekend was, like Practice 1, just 45 minutes in duration. Unlike the opening session, Practice 2 was slowed by three red flags.
• At the 17-minute mark, Jack Harvey brushed the wall at the apex of Turn 9, hurtling the No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda into the wall at the exit of the turn resulting in hard contact. Harvey was able to exit his race car without assistance from the safety team.
• Sixteen minutes after the first incident, Romain Grosjean's No. 28 Andretti Autosport Honda made hard contact with the rear of the No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda of Takuma Sato in Turn 10. In a separate incident, Jimmie Johnson spun in Turn 8 with the No. 48 Chip Ganassi Honda making light contact with the wall. Both incidents necessitated a red flag.
• With six minutes to go, the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Alex Palou experienced a crash similar to that of Harvey with hard contact into the wall at the exit of Turn 9.
• Following the final red flag, the session resumed with less than two minutes of time remaining on the clock.
• Scott McLaughlin turned the fastest lap of the session in the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet. The 59.7342 was quicker than the established qualifying track record, a 1:00.0476 set by Jordan King of Ed Carpenter Racing on March 10, 2018.
• The top 18 lap times, from McLaughlin to Callum Ilott, were separated by less than 0.9 seconds while 2.4 seconds covered the field of 26 drivers.
  

Session Notes:

• The 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season began with a 45-minute practice on the streets of St. Petersburg, the first session of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg race weekend. Practice 2 and qualifying follow on Saturday, Feb. 26 with morning warm-up and the 100-lap race set to take place on Sunday, Feb. 27.
• Practice was free of incidents until the the 37-minute mark, when the No. 48 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Jimmie Johnson stopped in the Turn 10 runoff and was unable to resume, bringing out the session's only red flag. Johnson was penalized five minutes of practice time for causing a red flag.
• Romain Grosjean and the No. 28 Andretti Autosport Honda topped the timesheet for much of the session, and the driver's 1:01.0525 remained the fastest lap at the checkered flag.
• Six rookies — Tatiana Calderon, Kyle Kirkwood, David Malukas, Devlin DeFrancesco, Christian Lundgaard and Callum Ilott — are competing in this weekend's season opener. Of the group, Malukas was fastest with a 1:01.5889 which ranked him 10th out of 26 drivers.
• The top 21, from Grosjean to Pato O'Ward, were separated by less than 0.8 seconds.