IndyCar: Herta tops Sunday morning warm-up in St. Petersburg
Andretti Autosport’s ace Colton Herta turned the fastest lap in race trim in Sunday morning warm-up for today’s St. Petersburg GP.
After qualifying, the Penske team made a wholesale swap of the engine electronics in the #2 car because Josef Newgarden felt he was lacking in top-end speed compared to his teammates.
It appears to have worked, as Newgarden turned the 2nd fastest lap in race trim in Sunday morning warm-up for today’s St. Petersburg GP.
Newgarden’s lap of 1m0.5971s was 0.2688s slower than defending race winner Colton Herta. The Penske team has dominated the weekend so far, and there is no doubt Newgarden can win from his 9th starting spot.
The first red-flag of the session was thrown when Jimmie Johnson locked up again, this time in turn 10. Johnson has spun so many times this weekend, it brings into question whether it’s time to focus on IMSA.
Helio Castroneves also had a minor spin.
The biggest crowd in the history of this event is expected for today’s 12:30pm start on NBC TV.
Tricky Turn 1 is at it again.@RGrosjean and @H3lio with a close call in the final moments of the warmup.
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⁰#INDYCAR // #FirestoneGP // @GPSTPETE pic.twitter.com/BPTLdvH6Ts— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) February 27, 2022
Sunday Morning Warm-Up Times
| Pos | No | Name | Time | Diff | Gap | Speed | Engine | Team |
| 1 | 26 | Colton Herta | 1:00.3283 | 0.000s | 0.000s | 107.412 | Honda | Andretti Autosport |
| 2 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 1:00.5971 | 0.2688 | 0.2688 | 106.936 | Chevy | Team Penske |
| 3 | 10 | Alex Palou | 1:00.8311 | 0.5028 | 0.2340 | 106.524 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 4 | 77 | Callum Ilott | 1:01.0936 | 0.7653 | 0.2625 | 106.067 | Chevy | Juncos Hollinger Racing |
| 5 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 1:01.1879 | 0.8596 | 0.0943 | 105.903 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 6 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | 1:01.1952 | 0.8669 | 0.0073 | 105.891 | Chevy | Team Penske |
| 7 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | 1:01.2066 | 0.8783 | 0.0114 | 105.871 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 8 | 7 | Felix Rosenqvist | 1:01.2834 | 0.9551 | 0.0768 | 105.738 | Chevy | Arrow McLaren SP |
| 9 | 14 | Kyle Kirkwood | 1:01.3347 | 1.0064 | 0.0513 | 105.650 | Chevy | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
| 10 | 51 | Takuma Sato | 1:01.3595 | 1.0312 | 0.0248 | 105.607 | Honda | Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR |
| 11 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | 1:01.4795 | 1.1512 | 0.1200 | 105.401 | Chevy | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 12 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 1:01.5225 | 1.1942 | 0.0430 | 105.327 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 13 | 12 | Will Power | 1:01.5479 | 1.2196 | 0.0254 | 105.284 | Chevy | Team Penske |
| 14 | 45 | Jack Harvey | 1:01.5726 | 1.2443 | 0.0247 | 105.242 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 15 | 29 | Devlin DeFrancesco | 1:01.6617 | 1.3334 | 0.0891 | 105.090 | Honda | Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport |
| 16 | 18 | David Malukas | 1:01.7250 | 1.3967 | 0.0633 | 104.982 | Honda | Dale Coyne Racing with HMD |
| 17 | 20 | Conor Daly | 1:01.8050 | 1.4767 | 0.0800 | 104.846 | Chevy | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 18 | 60 | Simon Pagenaud | 1:01.9641 | 1.6358 | 0.1591 | 104.577 | Honda | Meyer Shank Racing |
| 19 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | 1:01.9711 | 1.6428 | 0.0070 | 104.565 | Chevy | Arrow McLaren SP |
| 20 | 4 | Dalton Kellett | 1:01.9754 | 1.6471 | 0.0043 | 104.558 | Chevy | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
| 21 | 28 | Romain Grosjean | 1:01.9887 | 1.6604 | 0.0133 | 104.535 | Honda | Andretti Autosport |
| 22 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | 1:02.2341 | 1.9058 | 0.2454 | 104.123 | Honda | Andretti Autosport |
| 23 | 30 | Christian Lundgaard | 1:02.2451 | 1.9168 | 0.0110 | 104.105 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 24 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | 1:02.5318 | 2.2035 | 0.2867 | 103.627 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 25 | 11 | Tatiana Calderon | 1:03.3198 | 2.9915 | 0.7880 | 102.338 | Chevy | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
| 26 | 06 | Helio Castroneves | 1:03.4649 | 3.1366 | 0.1451 | 102.104 | Honda | Meyer Shank Racing |