Scott McLaughlin began his 2024 IndyCar season with a hard-fought third on the Streets of St. Petersburg.
The race was convincingly won by Josef Newgarden, who led 92 of the 100 laps to cross the line 7.9 seconds ahead of second-placed Pato O’Ward.
McLaughlin was forced to hold off a late challenge from Penske teammate Will Power to complete the podium.
Scott Dixon also earned a top ten result in ninth, while Tom Blomqvist was the third Kiwi home in 17th.
Marcus Armstrong failed to finish, crashing out at Turn 10 on Lap 26 while running 10th.
Newgarden had earlier led the field to green from pole, and retained his position at the front through turns one and two from front-row starter Felix Rosenqvist.
Colton Herta, O’Ward and Marcus Ericsson followed through, while McLaughlin was one of the biggest movers off the start, jumping to sixth, from ninth, with a brave dive up the inside.
Newgarden and Rosenqvist pulled clear over the opening stages and held a three-second advantage over the field after 10 laps as early fuel-saving became a priority.
Armstrong’s Lap 26 incident triggered the first caution of the race on quarter distance, with the Kiwi forced out with damage to the front-right of the Chip Ganassi entry.
The field boxed en masse under caution, with O’Ward hitting the front from Herta, while Newgarden dropped to third from a slower stop.
He was quick to return to the net lead following a Lap 31 restart, and was back at the front when the second caution period came just laps later when Sting Ray Robb pulled off at Turn 1 with a smoking brake disc.
Newgarden and O’Ward ran first and second until the second round of stops, which came when Romain Grosjean turned Chip Ganassi’s Linus Lundqvist into a spin at Turn 10, putting him into the barriers.
The former Formula 1 driver received a drive through for causing the collision, and retired shortly after serving this with gearbox issue.
McLaughlin sat fifth on the restart, having lost out to Herta who ran a lap longer under caution and successfully overcut Rosenqvist and the Kiwi to move into the podium places.
The Penske #3 moved to fourth at Turn 10 with 32 laps remaining, and then into the podium places at Turn 1 five circuits later.
He would catch O’Ward and pressure him for second, but the McLaren entry held firm, as the Kiwi lost ground through more fuel-saving.
Power caught McLaughlin over the final stages, and the Kiwi re-engaged with O’Ward in a bid to fend off his teammate’s challenge.
Up front, Newgarden had charged off to an eight-second advantage to take the chequered flag, while O’Ward kept McLaughlin at bay for second by just half a second.
Power finished a further six-tenths behind the Kiwi in fourth, 1.2 seconds clear of fifth-placed Herta.
Defending champion Alex Palou was sixth, ahead of Rosenqvist, Alexander Rossi and Dixon.
Blomqvist drove a tidy 100 laps to finish 17th, the same place he started.
IndyCar returns on March 24 for The Thermal Club $1 million challenge, held in Southern California. The event is a non-championship round, but has a reward of $1 million and a network broadcast showcase on NBC up for grabs.
Header Image: Penske Entertainment (Chris Owens)
Well done the Kiwis