Newgarden Takes First Pole since 2022 at St. Petersburg
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Saturday, March 9, 2024) – One of Josef Newgarden’s goals entering the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season was to win a pole, especially considering his last NTT P1 Award came in June 2022 at Detroit.
Time to get a magic marker and put a big check in that box.
SEE: Qualifying Results
An exuberant Newgarden ended a 27-race pole drought and captured his 17th career NTT P1 Award on Saturday with a top lap of 59.5714 seconds in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet, taking the top spot for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.
“I get jacked up every time I show up for an INDYCAR race,” two-time series champion Newgarden said. “It’s an elevated level when you start out the year because you have no idea if you’re going to keep coming back and producing results. It’s very difficult. You saw how tight it was.
“I didn’t know this would come today. I just thought, ‘Look, let’s through Round 1, let’s get through Round 2 and see what we can make happen in the (Firestone) Fast Six. Really proud of this team. This is a rock star team.”
Up next is the warmup at 9:10 a.m. ET Sunday (Peacock, INDYCAR Radio Network), followed by the 100-lap race at noon (NBC, Peacock, Universo, INDYCAR Radio Network).
Felix Rosenqvist continued a magic carpet ride in his first weekend with Meyer Shank Racing, ending up second at 59.5772 in the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda – just .0058 of a second behind reigning Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge winner Newgarden. That’s the closest front row for an INDYCAR SERIES street race since June 2012 at Detroit, when Scott Dixon edged Will Power by .0044 of a second.
The drama ratcheted in the closing seconds as Newgarden took the top spot on his final flying lap with about 15 seconds remaining in the Firestone Fast Six. Rosenqvist then fell just short of toppling Newgarden just five seconds before qualifying ended on the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street circuit.
Rosenqvist, who moved to MSR after three seasons with Arrow McLaren, led practice Friday.
“It’s been an incredible start,” Rosenqvist said. “We don’t want to get carried away; the race is a different challenge. But we had a feeling from practice, from rolling off the truck, and that’s great. It’s not often you have that, especially the first weekend with a new team.”
Pato O’Ward and Colton Herta will share Row 2 on the starting grid. O’Ward qualified third at 59.6540 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, with Saturday morning practice leader Herta fourth at 59.8189 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda fielded by Andretti Global.
Romain Grosjean continued the strong start with his new team at Juncos Hollinger Racing, qualifying fifth at 1:00.0642 in the team’s No. 77 Chevrolet. Reigning St. Petersburg winner Marcus Ericsson rounded out the Firestone Fast Six at 1:03.5583 in the No. 28 Delaware Life Honda.
There was plenty of parity in the Firestone Fast Six, as five teams – Andretti Global, Arrow McLaren, Juncos Hollinger Racing, Meyer Shank Racing, and Team Penske – fought for the NTT P1 Award.
Speed also was a storyline of the three-segment qualifying session. Rosenqvist broke the track record in the Group of 12 with his leading lap of 59.2706 to advance to the Firestone Fast Six, eclipsing the mark of 59.3466 set by Power in 2022.
The top three finishers in last year’s standings – champion Alex Palou, runner-up Dixon, and Scott McLaughlin – will have work to do to climb the order Sunday in the race. Two-time series champion Palou will start 13th in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, six-time series champion Dixon 11th in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, and McLaughlin ninth in the No. 3 DEX Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet.
Tom Blomqvist was the quickest of the five rookies in the 27-driver field. He will start 17th after a top lap of 59.9968 in the No. 66 AutoNation/Arctic Wolf Honda fielded by Meyer Shank Racing.
Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Race Results
Click HERE to view the results of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Results Sunday of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg NTT INDYCAR SERIES event on the 1.8-mile Streets of St. Petersburg, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (1) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 100, Running
2. (3) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 100, Running
3. (9) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 100, Running
4. (8) Will Power, Chevrolet, 100, Running
5. (4) Colton Herta, Honda, 100, Running
6. (13) Alex Palou, Honda, 100, Running
7. (2) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 100, Running
8. (15) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 100, Running
9. (11) Scott Dixon, Honda, 100, Running
10. (7) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 100, Running
11. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 100, Running
12. (18) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 100, Running
13. (16) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 100, Running
14. (23) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 100, Running
15. (26) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 100, Running
16. (22) Graham Rahal, Honda, 100, Running
17. (17) Tom Blomqvist, Honda, 100, Running
18. (20) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 100, Running
19. (27) Jack Harvey, Honda, 100, Running
20. (12) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 100, Running
21. (21) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 99, Running
22. (25) Colin Braun, Honda, 99, Running
23. (19) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 97, Running
24. (5) Romain Grosjean, Chevrolet, 82, Mechanical
25. (6) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 52, Mechanical
26. (24) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 33, Off course
27. (10) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 25, Contact
Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 96.867 mph
Time of Race: 1:51:29.5954
Margin of victory: 7.9121 seconds
Cautions: 3 for 9 laps
Lead changes: 4 among 3 drivers
Lap Leaders:
Newgarden, Josef 1 – 28
Lundgaard, Christian 29 – 35
Newgarden, Josef 36 – 65
Herta, Colton 66
Newgarden, Josef 67 – 100
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings:
Newgarden 54, O’Ward 40, McLaughlin 35, Power 32, Herta 31, Palou 28, Rosenqvist 26, Rossi 24, Dixon 22, VeeKay 20, Ferrucci 19, Kirkwood 18, Ilott 17, Simpson 16, Fittipaldi 15, Rahal 14, Blomqvist 13, Canapino 12, Lundgaard 11, Harvey 11, Rasmussen 9, Braun 8, Lundqvist 7, Grosjean 6, Ericsson 5, Armstrong 5, Robb 5
Sources: Dave Furst/INDYCAR PR