Marcus Armstrong began his 2024 IndyCar season by going third fastest in the opening practice at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, behind only Felix Rosenqvist and Pato O’Ward.
Scott McLaughlin was the second-best of the four-strong Kiwi contingent, placing sixth. Scott Dixon was 12th, and rookie Tom Blomqvist was 25th.
Armstrong and McLaughlin were two of just eight drivers under the 1:01 lap time on the 14-turn, 1.8-mile (2.9km) street circuit. The top 18 drivers were split by less than one second in the 75-minute session.
Rosenqvist’s 1:00.3390 set the benchmark for the practice and was nearly half a second better than O’Ward’s 1:00.8112. Armstrong completed 23 laps, the best of which fell only 0.007 seconds short of second spot, coming on his 21st circuit.
Two-time champion Will Power was fourth quickest, 0.0227 seconds behind the 2023 Rookie of the Year and 0.0439 ahead of Rinus Veekay.
The top five were made up of five different teams, highlighting the competitive nature of the series.
McLaughlin’s 1:00.9106 was the best of his 24 laps for sixth fastest.
Dixon completed 21 circuits for 12th. His 1:01.0728 was his best time and came on his 18th lap.
Meyer Shank Racing rookie Blomqvist ran for 14 laps and set a best time of 1:02.0724, 1.7334 seconds off the pace of the leader’s benchmark.
Defending champion Alex Palou was ninth, just one-tenth ahead of Dixon.
The session was largely clean, with two red flags only for cars that overshot braking zones and were forced to turn around in runoff areas.
IndyCar returns for Practice 2 at 3.35 a.m. on Sunday (NZ time), followed by qualifying at 8 a.m. The Grand Prix of St. Petersburg goes green at 6 a.m. on Monday.
All sessions will be broadcast live on Sky Sport.
