Photo by Jorden Pompey | The Crow’s Nest
By Jorden Pompey
The NTT IndyCar series kicked off its season at the Firestone St. Petersburg Grand Prix downtown St. Pete. on March 10.
Pole sitter Josef Newgarden led 92 laps of the 100-lap circuit winning with a seven-second gap to Arrow McLaren SP driver Pato O’Ward and Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin closed out the podium.
Team Penske finished the race one-three-four in Newgarden, McLaughlin and Will Power. Andretti Autosport driver Colton Herta rounded out the top five.
“I’m stoked, for the team it’s [an] unreal good job. For the two crew (Newgarden) to get the win then obviously with Will right behind me, he’s pushing me hard at the end, but I had a blast out there,” McLaughlin said in a post-race interview.
Newgarden set his first pole in the NTT for the first time in two years setting a time of 1:00.679.
Nashville native Newgarden earned his 10th consecutive season with a win and his 30th career win putting him in 13th on the all-time IndyCar win list.
Last season, Newgarden placed 17th in the St. Petersburg Grand Prix and struggled through the season on street courses.
Additionally, Newgarden finished fifth in the NTT series with 479 points.
“Our team specifically worked really hard to close the gap…we didn’t have the speed we needed on road and street courses last year on a consistency basis and today we brought that speed,” Newgarden said in the post-race interview.
Despite the struggles last season, Newgarden recorded his third win in the St. Pete circuit.
Chip Ganassi driver Marcus Armstrong wrecked on lap 25 as he hit the tire barrier going into Turn 10 and retired the car.
Last year’s St. Pete Grand Prix champion Marcus Ericsson had issues late in the race as his car was retired due to power issues.
French driver Romain Grosjean was given a drive-through penalty for making contact with Swedish rookie Linus Lundqvist in Turn 10 causing a caution with 30 laps to go.
The NTT IndyCar series will compete in a $1 million challenge hosted at the Thermal Club in Palm Springs, Calif. on March 24.
