Photo by Kyle McInnes
My computer crashed this afternoon. Reports tonight and tomorrow will be brief, but when I get home tomorrow night, I will catch up on everything.
Newgarden won the pole by 58 ten thousandths of a second, the closest margin on a street course since Detroit 2012 and the fourth closest street course margin since 2008.
Results:
I will post results tomorrow. I apologize for not being able to write more, but doing this by phone is not fun
2 pm Et on Peacock
Ohoto by Kyle McInnes
Colton Herta edged Josef Newgarden and Will Power for the top spot in Saturday morning’s practice. The session sets the stage for Grand prix of St. petersburg qualifying at 2 pm ET this afternoon.
Herta’s time of 1:00.1 nipped Newgarden by 0.245 seconds with Power 0.277 behind. Power led the middle of the session. Newgarden went to P1 as the final third of the round began, then Herta grabbed the lead with about 10 minutes to go.
I t was a very competitive practice. There was constant track action as teams searched for the best setup for qualifying.
Kyle Kirkwood was running in third when he hit the wall in turn 4,causing damaqge to the right side of the car. His time was still strong enough for seventh place.
Santino Ferrucci never got on track due to a mechanical issue. The team brought the car out to the pits but needed to take the number 14 back to the garage to fix it.
Flash Results:
Although a Honda car lede the session, Chevy cars seemed to dominate. Seven different teams had cars in the top 10.
I will have the qualifying groups up in a bit.
Good morning. Gates open at 8 am ET. Today’s schedule:
Several drivers I spoke with yesterday said they were glad the series wa trying a new format for practice. Alexander Rossi felt something needed to be done about the congestion on track. Josef Newgarden said he was happy the series was trying something.
Newgarden doesn’t think the reduced weight, which is only 25 pounds, will make a huge difference in speed. He thinks the increase will be marginal.
The tires in use were designed with the added weight of the hybrid components in mind. Drivers didn’t seem to think there was a lot of difference from last year’s tire.
If you’re looking for a pole favorite today, don’t count out Will power. he looked strong yesterday and seems to be reinvigorated this season.
Back after practice.
Photo by Kyle McInnes
Maybe a new team is exactly what Felix Rosenqvist needed, The Swedish driver lead the new format first practice for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg this afternoon with a time of 1:00.3390. Pato O’Ward was 0.4722 seconds behind Rosenqvist, and Marcus Armstrong ended the day third, anothet0.007 seconds back.
The new practice session format accomplished its goal of creating more on track action during a session that usually has some dead periods.
Will Power, who was fourth, said he liked the new format. “It has a similar flow to qualifying. It’s been very difficult in the past to get a run in.” He also noted that turn 3 is a lot smoother this year.
Rosenqvist said the transition to Meyer Shank Racing has been “super easy.” He is Impressed with how the team is working.
Marcus Armstrong’s third place run was impressive. He ran just 12 races last year, and he will do the entire 2024 schedule. I think he may be a surprise top 10 contender all season.
Photo by Kyle McInnes
Results:
Today’s schedule:
8:30 am: Gates Open
8:45 am: USFPro2000 Practice
9:35 am: USF2000 Practice
10:25 am: IMSA Practice
11:10 am: USFPro2000 Qualifying
11:55 am: USF2000 Qualifying
12:40 pm: IMSA Practice
1:35 pm: Indy NXT Practice
2:45 pm: IndyCar Practice
4:20 pm: USF2000 Race
5:25 pm: IMSA Quals
It is Indycar’s New Year weekend. The long, tortuous off season ends today at 2:45 pm Eastern when cars begin the first practice for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Sunday;s race is the 20th running of the downtown street race. I will leave the turmoil of the off season for a non race week. For now, let’s celebrate the new year.
Only Team Penske has the same lineup as they did in 2023. Every other team made at least one driver change. It is not as if Penske needs an advantage at this track. The team has won 11 of the 19 previous races at St. Pete, and three of the last five.
Here are four things to look for this weekend.
Today’s practice is an experiment to see if it will create more continuous on track action. The first 20 minutes will be a normal practice period with all cars eligible to run. After that, the cars in the odd number pit stalls will have the track for 10 minutes, then the rest of the field gets 10 minutes. The first group gets another 10 minutes, followed nu the second group getting the final 10 minute segment.
During the race, a restart line has been placed just past the exit of turn 14. Cars may not pass until they have crossed this line after the green flag waves to restart the race. This procedure should eliminate some of the chaos that we saw last year on restarts. I hope it also allows for shorter yellows.
If you like speed and watching track records tumble, enjoy the first half of 2024. Until the hybrid units come on line mid season, the cars will be lighter and faster. Many of the components- the bell housing and aeroscreen frame in particular, have been made lighter to help reduce the added weight of the new system.
The track record at St. Pete is 59.3466 seconds by Will Power in 2022. Could we see a 58 second lap?
Five rookies will start the race. Kyffin Simpson and Linus Lundqvist with Chip Ganassi Racing; Christian Rasmussen with Ed Carpenter Racing, Tom Blomqvist with Meyer Shank Racing, and Colin Braun with Dale Coyne Racing.
Blomqvist and Braun are rookies only in the sense that they have little experience in Indycar. They have had successful sports car careers, and I think after a few races, they will be fine.
Stil, rookies make up 20% of the grid for the opening race of 2024.
Musical chairs was the theme Silly Season. Several teams signed a driver from a rival squad. It may take some time to remember who is where.
Here is a list:
Felix Rosenqvist – Meyer Shank
David Malukas- Arrow McLaren
Marcus Ericsson- Andretti Global
Sting Ray Robb- A. J. Foyt Racing
Jack Harvey- Dale Coyne Racing
Romain Grosjean- Juncos Hollinger Racing
While it’s difficult to not pick a Penske driver to win in Sunday, especially given how strong Scott McLaughlin has been at St. Pete the last two years, I’m going with Kyle Kirkwood to be on the top step of the podium Sunday. Andretti showed a lot of street course strength in 2023, and Kirkwood won two street races.
Promoters Kim Green (at mic) and Kevin Savoree welcome guests to the start of race weekend
If the crowd at the Chamber of Commerce Green Flag VIP and Media is any indication, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is on track for a record crowd. I have attended this event for three years now, and today;s attendance was by far the largest I have seen. The city of St. Petersburg has fully embraced this event.
Eight Indycar drivers and drivers from all the support series running this weekend attended. Indycar drivers at the lunch included Colin Braun, Jack Harvey, Sting Ray Robb, Santino Ferrucci, Pietro Fittipaldi, Agustin Canapino, Scott Dixon, and Alexander Rossi.
Lis Boggs from Bridgestone/Firestone presented a check ofr $10,000 to Kids Spark Education Foundation in memory of Gil de Ferran.
Rossi and Dixon shared some of their misadventures flying Spirit Airlines. Dixon said his flight needed three attempts to take off.
Grand Prix staff I spoke with said that ticket sales are ahead of last year, which saw a record attendance.
Canapino seems more relaxed than he was at this time last year. He is excited about his second season in Indycar, and he believes he learned a lot in 2023. he is eager to work with teammate Romain Grosjean.
The Lionheart will debut on Max next week at 9 pm Eastern March 12.
The coveted blue envelopes are ready for mailing. Story up in a bit.
I will have my race preview up tomorrow morning.
Race preview tomorrow. I will have a post up later this afternoon about the green flag luncheon and some series notes.
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 