Scott McLaughlin showed the speed that has earned him two prior poles at this event, leading the first practice Friday for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
McLaughlin, NTT P1 Award winner here in 2022 and last season, was quickest at 1 minute, 1.1020 seconds in the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet on the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street circuit that hosts the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season opener.
He led the earlier portion of the 85-minute practice, which included all 25 cars, and improved upon that time in the smaller session after the field was divided into two groups.
“Decent first day,” McLaughlin said.
“Obviously, being P1 is a great start. The DEX Imaging Chevy was straight away fast, felt good, and was comfortable. It’s good for us. It’s the start of a long season, and it was nice to have a smooth session.
“We’ll keep pressing on and see how we go.”
Felix Rosenqvist was second overall at 1:01.1660 in the No. 60 Honda fielded by Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian, a car with a livery saluting Florida native and rock icon Tom Petty during the 50th anniversary of his legendary band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
Continuing the Sunshine State theme, Florida native Kyle Kirkwood was third at 1:01.1777 in the No. 27 Honda of Andretti Global.
Kyffin Simpson started the 2026 season with the same improvement he showed throughout 2025, ending up fourth at 1:01.1782 in the No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. 2023 St. Petersburg winner Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top five at 1:01.1967 in the No. 28 Honda as Andretti Global was the only team to put two drivers in the top five.
Four-time series champion Alex Palou, the reigning St. Petersburg race winner, was sixth at 1:01.2614 in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Fellow Kiwi Marcus Armstrong had a strong opening practice session, finishing seventh fastest overall with a 1:01.3035 in the No.66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda.
Up next is practice on Sunday at 3:30 AM (NZST), followed by qualifying at 10:30 AM.
Competition in both sessions and the race on Monday at 6:00 AM (NZST) should be very tight, if this opening practice is any indication. A scant .0947 of a second – less than a tenth of a second – covered the top five drivers. Less than a second separated the top 21 in the 25-driver field.
2025 INDY NXT by Firestone champion Dennis Hauger was the quickest of the three rookies, 17th at 1:01.8680 in the No. 19 Honda of Dale Coyne Racing. Formula One veteran Mick Schumacher, son of seven-time F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher, was the second-quickest rookie, 23rd overall at 1:02.1707 in the No. 47 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda.
Three drivers – two-time St. Petersburg winner Josef Newgarden, six-time series champion Scott Dixon, and 2025 series Rookie of the Year Louis Foster – made contact with the barriers, triggering red flags and halting this practice in separate incidents.
Dixon’s incident was the most severe. About 57 minutes into the session, Dixon’s No. 9 Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda slid across Turn 9 and made head-first contact with the concrete barrier, inflicting heavy damage to the front of his car. Malukas just missed Dixon’s crippled car, sneaking past between the left-side barrier and Dixon’s left sidepod. Dixon was unhurt.
“Kind of a frustrating one,” Dixon said.
“I got loose on entry and tried to save it and then kind of got into an overcorrection. Luckily, it slid off a lot of the speed before it hit the wall. Sometimes you can tub a car and destroy it. Hopefully this isn’t too bad.”
SEE: Practice Results
Header Image: Penske Entertainment – Matt Fraver
