IndyCar News: Alex Palou takes the field to school in St. Petersburg
Defending IndyCar Champion and Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg winner Alex Palou (pictured) ran in third early in the race, then pounced. He took the lead in is #10 Ganassi Honda after the first round of pitstops and, except for pitstops, led the rest of the way to go back-to-back in the NTT IndyCar Series season opener on the 1.8-mile St. Petersburg street circuit.
Palou won 8 of 17 races last year to win his 4th IndyCar title in five years, and he starts off 2026 in a strong position to win his 5th title. He’s just too good for the rest of the drivers. It was his 20th career IndyCar win.
Polesitter Scott McLaughlin had nothing for Palou and came home 2nd, 13s behind Palou in his #3 Penske Chevy.
Christian Lundgaard, who started 12th, rallied and was all over the back of McLaughlin for the last 10 laps but could not get past and had to settle for the final podium position, behind Palou and McLaughlin.
Kyle Kirkwood hung onto a diabolical Andretti Honda to finish 4th, 25s behind Palou.
2024 race winner here, Pato O’Ward rounded out the top-5 in his #5 McLaren Chevy.
More to follow…….
2026 Firestone GP of St. Petersburg Results
| Pos | No | Name | Laps | Behind | Gap | ST | Engine | Team |
| 1 | 10 | Alex Palou | 100 | 0.000s | 0.000s | 4 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 2 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | 100 | 12.4948 | 12.4948 | 1 | Chevy | Team Penske |
| 3 | 7 | Christian Lundgaard | 100 | 12.9153 | 0.4205 | 12 | Chevy | Arrow McLaren |
| 4 | 27 | Kyle Kirkwood | 100 | 25.2737 | 12.3583 | 15 | Honda | Andretti Global |
| 5 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | 100 | 26.0753 | 0.8015 | 8 | Chevy | Arrow McLaren |
| 6 | 28 | Marcus Ericsson | 100 | 26.2562 | 0.1808 | 2 | Honda | Andretti Global |
| 7 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 100 | 26.4218 | 0.1655 | 23 | Chevy | Team Penske |
| 8 | 18 | Romain Grosjean | 100 | 28.0388 | 1.6169 | 6 | Honda | Dale Coyne Racing |
| 9 | 76 | Rinus VeeKay | 100 | 28.7150 | 0.6761 | 19 | Chevy | Juncos Racing |
| 10 | 19 | Dennis Hauger | 100 | 29.8721 | 1.1570 | 3 | Honda | Dale Coyne Racing |
| 11 | 66 | Marcus Armstrong | 100 | 30.4682 | 0.5960 | 7 | Honda | Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian |
| 12 | 60 | Felix Rosenqvist | 100 | 30.8104 | 0.3421 | 11 | Honda | Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian |
| 13 | 12 | David Malukas | 100 | 33.7755 | 2.9650 | 5 | Chevy | Team Penske |
| 14 | 45 | Louis Foster | 100 | 38.0389 | 4.2633 | 9 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 15 | 8 | Kyffin Simpson | 100 | 38.9092 | 0.8702 | 10 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 16 | 20 | Alexander Rossi | 100 | 49.6126 | 10.7033 | 25 | Chevy | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 17 | 4 | Caio Collet | 100 | 61.9773 | 12.3646 | 24 | Chevy | A.J. Foyt Enterprises |
| 18 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 100 | 63.1342 | 1.1568 | 18 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 19 | 21 | Christian Rasmussen | 100 | 63.1911 | 0.0568 | 14 | Chevy | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 20 | 6 | Nolan Siegel | 99 | 1 LAPS | 6.9569 | 22 | Chevy | Arrow McLaren |
| 21 | 77 | Sting Ray Robb | 93 | 7 LAPS | 6 LAPS | 20 | Chevy | Juncos Racing |
| 22 | 26 | Will Power | 55 | DNF | 24 LAPS | 13 | Honda | Andretti Global |
| 23 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 39 | DNF | 16 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing | |
| 24 | 14 | Santino Ferrucci | — | DNF | 10 LAPS | 17 | Chevy | A.J. Foyt Enterprises |
| 25 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | — | DNF | 0.2856 | 21 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |