Josef Newgarden won pole position for the season opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg with a lap of 59.5714 seconds in the final round of qualifying. It is Newgarden's first pole position since Belle Isle in 2022 and the 17th in his career. The Tennessean has won four times from pole position in his career, most recently at Mid-Ohio in 2021. He has never won from pole position on a street course in his career. This is his sixth pole position on a street course. Newgarden has failed to finish in the top fifteen in the last three season openers.
Felix Rosenqvist makes his debut with Meyer Shank Racing from second on the grid, after coming up 0.0058 seconds shy of pole position. This is Meyer Shank Racing's best starting since Jack Harvey started second at St. Petersburg in 2021. This is the eighth front row start of Rosenqvist's career. Since finishing fourth on his IndyCar debut in 2019 at St. Petersburg, Rosenqvist has an average finish of 16.5 in four St. Petersburg starts. The Swedish driver's best finish when starting on the front row is fifth.
Patricio O'Ward had the top three covered by 0.0826 seconds, as O'Ward matches his career best starting position at St. Petersburg. The Mexican driver started third last year in this race before finishing second with 23 laps led. O'Ward enters this weekend with ten consecutive top ten finishes, the longest streak of his IndyCar career.
Colton Herta put himself fourth on the grid. This will be Herta's fifth top five starting position in the last seven races. However, he did not finished in the top five in the final seven races of last season, the longest drought since Herta went 13 races between top five finishes during his rookie season.
Romain Grosjean will start fifth in his first race for Juncos Hollinger Racing. JHR did not have a top five start at all last season. After finishing runner-up in consecutive races last year at Long Beach and Barber Motorsports Park, Grosjean had only one top ten finish in the final 13 races of 2023.
Marcus Ericsson starts besides the driver he is replacing in the #28 Honda for Andretti Global in sixth position. Ericsson could become the fourth driver to win consecutive St. Petersburg races. Ericsson has only had podium finishes in the same race in consecutive years once in his career. That was the Indianapolis 500, which he won in 2022 and finished second in 2023.
Rinus VeeKay was 0.0119 seconds shy of making the Fast Six, and VeeKay will settle for seventh on the grid, his best street course starting position since starting fourth at St. Petersburg in 2022. The Dutchman has not finished in the top ten in his last nine street course starts. His most recent street course result was sixth in the 2022 St. Petersburg race.
Will Power was only 0.0212 seconds outside the top six, and Power will start eighth. This is the third time in the last four St. Petersburg races Power has not started on the front row. In his first 12 St. Petersburg starts, Power started off the front row only twice. Power led 242 laps in his first eight St. Petersburg starts, including leading 50 laps or more in three races. In his last seven St. Petersburg starts, Power has led only 27 laps, and the most laps he has led in a St. Petersburg race is 17.
Scott McLaughlin finds himself starting ninth. This is the third time McLaughlin has qualified ninth in his career. He has finished worse than his starting position in the prior two occasions. McLaughlin has led 87 laps in four St. Petersburg starts. He ranks eighth all-time in laps led in the history of the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Marcus Armstrong rounds out the top ten, the top Chip Ganassi Racing driver. Last season, the only time Armstrong was the top Ganassi qualifier was in the summer race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. He will make his 13th career start this weekend. The most recent driver to have their first career victory come in their 13th career start was Marco Andretti at Sonoma in 2006.
Scott Dixon takes 11th on the grid and makes it three consecutive New Zealanders in the starting lineup. Each of Dixon's three victories last year came from a starting position outside the top ten. Dating back to 2022, his last four victories have come when starting outside the top ten. Dixon's eight victories from outside a top ten starting spot are the most in IndyCar history, and double the next closest drivers. Dixon has five consecutive top five finishes in St. Petersburg and eight consecutive top ten finishes in this race.
Christian Lundgaard rounded out the second round of qualifying, his second consecutive year starting on row six at St. Petersburg. The Dane has finished 11th and ninth in his first two St. Petersburg visits. Lundgaard was the top Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing finisher in ten of 17 races last year.
Álex Palou begins his title defense from 13th starting position. Palou missed out on advancing form round one by 0.1695 seconds. He failed to make it out of the first round of qualifying only once in 2023. That was at Toronto. Palou is attempting to become the first defending champion to win the season opener of the following season since Dario Franchitti won at St. Petersburg in 2011.
Santino Ferrucci fell 0.0242 seconds off advancing from group two, and Ferrucci will start 14th, his best starting position on a street course since he started 12th for the second Belle Isle race in 2021. Since finishing third in the 2023 Indianapolis 500, Ferrucci's best finish in his last 11 starts was 13th at Gateway, his only top fifteen finish during that span. His average finish on road/street courses last year was 19th.
Alexander Rossi leads an all-Arrow McLaren row eight. This is the fourth consecutive year Rossi will start outside the top ten in St. Petersburg. He has led 84 combined laps over the last three seasons. In Rossi's prior four seasons, he had never led fewer than 83 laps in a season.
Callum Ilott will be to Rossi's outside on row eight. Ilott is driving the #6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet in place of an injured David Malukas. Last year, Ilott went from 22nd to fifth, the biggest mover in the race. It was his first career top five finish. Ilott was fifth in the 2023 season finale from Laguna Seca.
Tom Blomqvist was the top rookie qualifier in 17th. This is the best starting position of Blomqvist's IndyCar career. His previous best was 20th on debut last year in Toronto. The Brit made three starts last season driving for Meyer Shank Racing. Blomqvist had finishes of 25th, 24th and 26th in those events.
Kyle Kirkwood ended up 18th in qualifying, Kirkwood's worst starting position since he started 20th at Texas last year. This will be the fifth consecutive race and seventh in the eight that Kirkwood has started outside the top ten. His first two victories have come on street courses. The last driver to have his first three victories come on street courses was Mike Conway from 2011 to 2014. All four of Conway's victories came on street courses.
Linus Lundqvist's first race for Chip Ganassi Racing will come from 19th starting position. Lundqvist started in the top 12 in each of his three starts last year with Meyer Shank Racing. The Swede scored fastest lap in two of his first three career starts. Since 1993, the fastest to three fastest laps in a career is five starts, which Tomas Scheckter did in 2002.
Agustín Canapino rounds out the top twenty. Last year, Canapino started in the top twenty in five races, four of which were on road/street courses. Canapino had an average finish of 16.6 in the street races last season, including three top fifteen results. His best finish was 12th, which came at St. Petersburg.
Christian Rasmussen will make his IndyCar debut from 21st starting postion. Rasmussen becomes the sixth Danish driver to compete in an IndyCar race. In eight Road to Indy starts at St. Petersburg, Rasmussen had one victories and six top five finishes.
Graham Rahal starts 22nd, only the third time Rahal has started outside the top twenty at St. Petersburg. Rahal has only two top five finishes in 16 St. Petersburg starts, his first career victory in 2008 and a runner-up finish in 2018. He started 24th in that runner-up finish six years ago.
Kyffin Simpson ended up 23rd in qualifying. Born in Bridgetown, Barbados and representing the Cayman Islands, Simpson will be the first driver from a Caribbean Island to start an IndyCar race. Simpson was 11th and tenth in his two Indy Lights races at St. Petersburg.
Sting Ray Robb qualified 24th, the fourth consecutive race he has qualified 24th. Robb ended the 2023 season with his best finish of the season, 12th at Laguna Seca. Laguna Seca was only the second lead lap finish Robb had in 2023. The other was at Road America.
Colin Braun will start 25th for his IndyCar debut. Braun will become the fourth driver born in 1988 to start an IndyCar race. The other of three drivers born in 1988 to start in IndyCar are Mario Moraes, Simona de Silvestro and J.R. Hildebrand. Of the "class of 1988," Hildebrand is the most recent to make his IndyCar debut, coming on August 8, 2010.
Pietro Fittipaldi makes his first IndyCar appearance since May 30, 2021 in the Indianapolis 500, and it will come from 26th on the grid. This will be Fittipaldi's tenth career IndyCar start. The average number of days between his ten starts is 240.4.
Jack Harvey rounds out the 27-car grid. Harvey is coming off a 30-race stretch with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing where he had one top ten finish and an average finish of 18.4. Harvey's best St. Petersburg result was fourth in 2021 with Meyer Shank Racing.
NBC's coverage of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg begins at noon ET with green flag scheduled for 12:30 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 100 laps.
