2024 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

Race Notes

• The 2024 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was 100 laps on the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street circuit on the streets of St. Petersburg.
• The pit road speed limit was 45 mph and the race started the third time past the start-finish line. Pole sitter Josef Newgarden gridded drivers' left.
• The fuel window was 19–40 laps under green-flag conditions, depending on the pit strategy.
• All cars but those of Felix Rosenqvist, Colton Herta, Scott Dixon, Christian Rasmussen, Colin Braun, Pietro Fittipaldi and Jack Harvey started the race on Firestone Firehawk primary black tires. Each car was required to use one set of new alternate green tires and once set of primary black tires during the race.
• At 12:25 p.m. EDT, the ambient temperature was 76 degrees with sunny skies. The track temperature was 107 degrees according to Firestone engineers.
• Also at 12:25 p.m., St. Petersburg Mayor Kevin Welch along with former mayors of St. Petersburg gave the command, "Drivers, start your engines." All cars fired and rolled off the grid.
• On Lap 1, Josef Newgarden led the field into Turn 1. After contact in Turn 4, the No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda of Christian Lundgaard was slow on track with a punctured tire.
• Newgarden continued to lead the opening stint which was broken up early when the No. 11 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Marcus Armstrong made contact with the Turn 10 tire barrier, bringing out the race's first caution. The three-lap slowdown saw most of the field take the opportunity to pit. Lundgaard, who stopped on Lap 1, stayed out and assumed the lead on Lap 29.
• Lundgaard led the next seven laps until the race's second full-course caution began on Lap 34 when the No. 41 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet of Sting Ray Robb stopped off course in the Turn 1 runoff. Lundgaard's pit stop on Lap 36 returned Newgarden to the race lead.
• During the race's second set of pit stops, Newgarden briefly lost the lead to Colton Herta on Lap 66 but regained it on Lap 67.
• The race slowed for a final time on Lap 69 when contact between the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet of Romain Grosjean and the No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Linus Lundqvist sent Lundqvist's car into the tire barrier in Turn 10.
• Newgarden led the field on the Lap 72 restart and held the lead through to the checkered flag, leading 92 laps en route to his third victory in St. Petersburg and the 30th win of his NTT IndyCar Series career. The achievement also marked the 12th victory for Team Penske in St. Petersburg.
• Official points after the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg:
  1. Newgarden 54
  2. O'Ward 40
  3. McLaughlin 35
  4. Power 32
  5. Herta 31
  6. Palou 28
  7. Rosenqvist 26
  8. Rossi 24
  9. Dixon 22
  10. VeeKay 20
      

Session Notes

• Warm-up for the 2024 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg started on time at 9:10 a.m. EDT and ran free of interruption until the very end, when a red flag came out at the 30-minute mark which coincided with the checkered flag.
• At 9:40 a.m., the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda of Felix Rosenqvist was stopped in the Turn 10 runoff causing the session-ending red flag.
• Colton Herta was fastest in the session with a lap time of 59.9267 seconds in the No. 26 Andretti Global Honda.
  

Qualifying Notes

• Qualifying for the NTT P1 Award consists of three segments. In the first round, each group receives 10 minutes of track time with the clock starting when the first car hits the alternate start-finish line. The fastest six cars from each group advance to Round 2 while the remaining cars are assigned positions 13 to 27. Group 1 drivers will occupy the odd-numbered positions while Group 2 drivers will occupy the even-numbered positions based on their fastest lap times. During Round 2, the 12 advancing cars receive 10 minutes of track time with the fastest six cars advancing to the Firestone Fast Six while the remaining cars are ranked in positions seven through 12 based on their fastest laps. During the Firestone Fast Six, the six cars receive six minutes of guaranteed green-flag time. At the end of session, cars are ranked one through six based on their fastest laps.
• The entirety of qualifying was green with no red flags.
• One penalty was issued to the No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda of Tom Blomqvist for causing a local yellow that affected another competitor.
• Felix Rosenqvist, Colton Herta, Josef Newgarden, Marcus Ericsson, Romain Grosjean and Pato O'Ward advanced to the Firestone Fast Six. Notably, Rosenqvist's lap time of 59.2706 seconds in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda set a new track record. The previous record, 59.3466 seconds, was set by Will Power on Feb. 26, 2022.
• At the conclusion of Round 3, Newgarden's 59.5714 in the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet earned the American driver his first NTT P1 Award of 2024 and his 17th career NTT IndyCar Series pole.
• The difference between pole winner Newgarden and Rosenqvist — 0.0058 seconds — marks the tightest front-row qualifying effort on a road and street course since Detroit in 2012, when Scott Dixon was 0.0044 seconds quicker than Will Power.
  

Session Notes

• The NTT IndyCar Series' second practice on the streets of St. Petersburg started six minutes later than scheduled at 9:41 a.m. EST. The session ran for its full 45-minute duration without any red flags and concluded at 10:26 a.m.
• Aside from a wall brush by Kyle Kirkwood, there were no on-track incidents during practice.
• Due to an undisclosed issue, the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet of Santino Ferrucci did not participate in Practice 2.
• At the session's conclusion, the No. 26 Andretti Global Honda of Colton Herta was fastest with a 1:00. 1331.
  

Session Notes

• The first official on-track activity of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season was delayed by 10 minutes due to the previous session running long. The green flag for Practice 1 flew at 2:55 p.m. EST.
• INDYCAR trialed a revised format for the weekend's opening practice. While still 75 minutes in total duration, it was broken into two segments:
  • Segment 1: All cars on track for 20 minutes.
  • Segment 2: Cars split by pit assignment into Group 1 (odds) and Group 2 (evens). Each group received 10 minutes of track time and alternated for a total of 40 minutes of track time.
• Practice slowed for three red flags, all for cars off track in Turn 10:
  • Kyffin Simpson, No. 4 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
  • Pietro Fittipaldi, No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
  • Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet
• At the conclusion of the session, the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda of Felix Rosenqvist was fastest with a 1:00.3390.