IndyCar News: Newgarden wins pole for GP of St. Petersburg

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden turned a lap of 59.5714s to win his 3rd pole position for the Firestone GP of St. Petersburg NTT IndyCar race.

Newgarden’s lap was just 0.0058s faster than the Meyer Shank Racing Honda of Felix Rosenqvist.

Rosenqvist set a new track record with his lap of 59.2706 in the Fast Twelve session today.

Pato O’Ward was third quick in his #5 Arrow McLaren Chevy, 0.0826s behind Newgarden.

#26 Colton Herta was the fastest Andretti Honda in 4th, 0.2475s behind after leading two of the earlier sessions.

Romain Grosjean was an impressive 5th in the #77 Hollinger Racing Chevy.

Newgarden talks about Chevrolet Changes

Josef Newgarden was relieved to win a pole, something he did not achieve last  season.  The 2023 Indy 500 winner added his praise to Chevrolet for offseason changes.

“Team Chevy absolutely crushed it in this offseason, so I couldn’t feel more positive.”

“I think it was a huge difference-maker today was just Chevrolet. I’m not going to put everything on them because it’s always a package. We always have to work together in conjunction,” added Newgarden

“I think there were things we fell short on last year from a chassis standpoint. You know where we weren’t strong just as a team and what we needed to do, road and street course-wise. I think we’ve elevated our game, and Chevrolet has absolutely elevated their side.”

“They took a lot of meetings with us in the offseason. They work hard every offseason, but I think they just went that from an extra mile this go-around. It’s still early days, but I’ll really encouraged by what they brought here and what we can see for the rest of the year.”

Rosenqvist Excited to have Track Record

Felix Rosenqvist, who was fastest in practice Friday driving his first race for Meyer Shank Racing, earned a lot of kudos this weekend from many other drivers.  Will Power was impressed with his fast practice session on Friday.  And then he broke the track record during the Fast Twelve session.

Rosenqvist commented on his day.  “It’s been amazing so far. Big thanks to AutoNation, SiriusXM, the whole Meyer Shank Racing team. Bon Jovi being here with us this weekend pretty cool as well.”

“I feel like I’ve been driving very natural all weekend. I haven’t thought too much about the way I put the car and brake and go in power. It’s kind of been coming naturally, and that’s I think when you perform the best.”

“Lucky to be in that situation. My team has done a great job to kind of figure out what I like with the car, and obviously Andretti, us being a tight-knit group, that’s helped hugely as well. Yeah, amazing so far. Still 100 laps to go.”

Siegel Powers to Indy NXT Pole

Nolan Siegel’s first career pole in INDY NXT by Firestone came at the right time Saturday.

In the first race of the season, Siegel was in the first qualifying group for the INDY NXT by Firestone of St. Petersburg. That proved to be the difference amid a competitive session.

New for this year, INDY NXT by Firestone competitors were divided into two qualifying groups, and Siegel’s group ran without a caution. The second group had two red flags, including one when the field was on what presumably would have been the fastest laps. That group came up a few tenths short of Siegel’s pace-setting time.

Siegel’s pole-winning and track-record lap around the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street circuit was 1 minute, 4.5759 seconds. Jacob Abel was quickest in Group 2, but he didn’t get a chance to finish his final lap due to the crash of series newcomer Callum Hedge in the final set of corners.

Second-year series driver Siegel will go for his third career series victory in the 45-lap race that begins shortly after 10 a.m. ET

“It’s my first pole in INDY NXT, so it feels really good,” the driver of the No. 39 HMD Motorsports entry said. “Starting 2024 up front is the best way to do it, for sure. Everyone’s worked super hard in the offseason, and HMD did a great job. It’s a nice reward.”

GP of St. Petersburg IndyCar Qualifying Results

Indy NXT Qualifying Results