The first race of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series is on the streets of St. Petersburg, as for the 14th time the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg opens a season. Three different teams have won the last three years at St. Petersburg, and it is only the third time St. Petersburg has had three different teams winning in three consecutive years. There has never been a streak of four consecutive different teams winning this race. Four different drivers have won the last four years, the longest streak at St. Petersburg since there were five different winners from 2011 through 2015.
Coverage
Time: Coverage begins at 12:00 p.m. ET on Sunday March 10 with green flag scheduled for 12:30 p.m. ET.
Channel: NBC
Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Marty Snider, Kevin Lee and Georgia Henneberry will work pit lane.
Channel: NBC
Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Marty Snider, Kevin Lee and Georgia Henneberry will work pit lane.
IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Friday:
First Practice: 3:00 p.m. ET (75 minutes)
Saturday:
Second Practice: 10:00 a.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 2:00 p.m. ET
Sunday:
Warm-up: 9:10 a.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 12:30 p.m. ET (100 laps)
Qualifying: 2:00 p.m. ET
Sunday:
Warm-up: 9:10 a.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 12:30 p.m. ET (100 laps)
* - All sessions will be available live on Peacock
Ganassi's Title Defense
Walking into this season, Chip Ganassi Racing is the team to beat. Ganassi won nine of 17 races last year, its most since 2009. Ganassi went 1-2-6 in the championship, and it enters this season on a four-race winning streak. Ganassi is looking for five consecutive victories for the first time since 1998. The team also enters as the defending St. Petersburg winners.
Álex Palou has not finished outside the top ten since 2022. Last year, Palou's worst finish was eighth, one of which came at St. Petersburg. He completed 2,258 of 2,260 laps as he won five times with ten podium finishes. Palou was on the podium in the last three street course races, including a victory in Detroit. The Catalan driver has 13 consecutive top ten finishes in street races entering this season.
Besides Palou, Ganassi has Scott Dixon, a driver who won three of the last four races to close out the 2023 season. Dixon had 11 top five finishes last year, and he enters this season with 14 consecutive top ten finishes. His retirement at Long Beach last April was Dixon's only result outside the top ten last season.
Ganassi had a top five finisher in every race in 2023, and it has had a top five finisher in 19 consecutive races dating back to 2022. The team had multiple top five finishers in 11 races last year. Marcus Ericsson was one of the reasons behind those results. Ericsson is no longer with the organization, and Ganassi has two rookies and a sophomore rounding out an expanded five-car team.
Marcus Armstrong started all 12 road/street races in 2023, and he will now be full-time in the #11 Honda. Armstrong had five top ten finishes with two finishes of 11th and a 13th allowing him to capture rookie of the year honors despite not running a full schedule.
Ganassi will attempt to claim its second consecutive rookie of the year honors with Linus Lundqvist, who replaces his fellow Swede in the #8 Honda. Lundqvist made three starts last year with Meyer Shank Racing, where he scored fastest lap twice, including on debut, and his best finish was 12th.
In the fifth Ganassi entry will be rookie Kyffin Simpson driving the #4 Honda. Simpson spent the last two seasons in Indy Lights where he had two podium finishes and six top five finishes in 27 starts. Simpson won the European Le Mans Series LMP2 championship last year and he also won in the LMP2 class at the 2023 12 Hours of Sebring.
Ganassi's St. Petersburg victory last year was only its second, coming 12 years after Dario Franchitti earned its first.
Driver Changes
Ganassi is keeping its top two drivers from 2023, and it is promoting one to a full-time gig, but the likes of Lundqvist and Simpson are just two of 12 drivers that are in different seats from last year.
We know Lundqvist replaced Ericsson at Ganassi, as Ericsson has moved to Andretti Global, taking over the #28 Honda. Ericsson replaces Romain Grosjean, who has moved to Juncos Hollinger Racing to drive the #77 Chevrolet.
Lundqvist and Simpson are two of four rookies in the 2024 field. Tom Blomqvist ran three races at the end of last year, but the IMSA champion will be full-time in IndyCar this year, driving the #66 Honda for Meyer Shank Racing as MSR underwent a re-numbering of its second full-time entry.
Christian Rasmussen will be the fourth rookie in 2024. The 2023 Indy Lights champion, Rasmussen will drive the #20 Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing in every road and street course race this year, as Ed Carpenter will drive the oval events in this entry. ECR is scaling back and not running the additional third car for Carpenter this year, reverting to the two-driver setup the team used in the #20 Chevrolet from 2014 through 2021. Rasmussen will be entered in a third ECR car for the Indianapolis 500 as well.
While Blomqvist has a new number, he will also have a new teammate as Felix Rosenqvist moves to the #60 Honda for MSR. Rosenqvist had spent the prior three seasons at Arrow McLaren.
Sting Ray Robb moves from Dale Coyne Racing to A.J. Foyt Racing's #41 Chevrolet.
Dale Coyne Racing's other driver from 2023, David Malukas, will drive the #6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet this season, however, a wrist injury suffered last month in a mountain biking accident will keep Malukas out of the car for St. Petersburg. Substituting for Malukas in the season opener will be Callum Ilott, who spent the previous two seasons at Juncos Hollinger Racing.
Ilott is driving full-time this season in the FIA World Endurance Championship, where he is in the #12 Porsche 963 for Hertz Team Jota. Ilott is coming off a second-place finish in the WEC season opening Qatar 1812 km last week.
Not a rookie, and not unfamiliar to IndyCar, Pietro Fittipaldi will take over Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's #30 Honda entry in a full-time effort. Fittipaldi has nine IndyCar starts to his name, but his most recent was the 2021 Indianapolis 500 and his IndyCar debut came nearly six years ago. Fittipaldi remains a test/reserve driver to Haas F1. He ran for Team Jota in WEC's LMP2 class last year, where he was victorious at Monza.
Dale Coyne Racing will field Jack Harvey in the #18 Honda while Colin Braun will make his IndyCar debut in the #51 Honda. Harvey is slated to compete in 14 races for Coyne while Indy Lights driver Nolan Siegel will drive at Long Beach, the Indianapolis 500 and Toronto, as well as the exhibition race at Thermal Club in Palm Springs, California. Braun is only scheduled to run St. Petersburg and at Thermal Club, but the Texan could run additional races this season.
What Did Testing Tell Us?
IndyCar had a two-day test last week at Sebring International Raceway ahead of the season opener. The field was split over each day with half the entries testing on Monday February 26 and the other half testing on Tuesday February 27. The entire field never experienced the same track conditions.
This split meant those testing on Tuesday swarmed the top of the combined results. The top five were all from Tuesday, as were seven of the top ten.
Andretti Global's Marcus Ericsson led the session around Sebring's short course at 51.9512 seconds, only 0.0564 seconds ahead of Will Power. Patricio O'Ward was only 0.0592 seconds back in third with Meyer Shank Racing's Felix Rosenqvist in fourth, 0.0793 seconds behind his fellow Swede. Graham Rahal was in fifth, the first driver over a tenth off Ericsson. Álex Palou made it six different teams represented in the top six, 0.1371 back. Palou was the top Monday participant.
Christian Lundgaard and Josef Newgarden also ran on Monday, and they were seventh and eighth. Kyffin Simpson and Linus Lundqvist rounded out the top ten. Colton Herta was in 11th, only two ten-thousandths off Lundqvist.
Santino Ferrucci was 12th ahead of Alexander Rossi, who was just over three-tenths behind Ericsson. O'Ward ran on Monday in the #6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet in place of the injured David Malukas, and O'Ward was 14th, just two thousandths behind Rossi. Scott Dixon rounded out the top fifteen, 0.3158 seconds slower than his former teammate.
Romain Grosjean was 16th ahead of Marcus Armstrong, Kyle Kirkwood and Christian Rasmussen. Scott McLaughlin rounded out the top twenty after competing on Monday. Seven of the bottom eight ran on Monday. McLaughlin was 0.5921 off Ericsson. Rinus VeeKay was 21st ahead of Pietro Fittipaldi, Tom Blomqvist, Agustin Canapino and Sting Ray Robb.
Dale Coyne Racing took the bottom two spots with Tuesday's runner Colin Braun ahead of Monday's runner Jack Harvey. Braun was 0.9657 seconds off Ericsson with Harvey 1.1254 seconds back.
Street Course Guessing Game
Last season, four different drivers won the five street course races held. Dating back to 2022, there have been eight different winners in the last ten street course races.
Kyle Kirkwood was the only winner of multiple street course races in 2023. The Andretti Global driver won at Long Beach and Nashville. Marcus Ericsson, Álex Palou and Christian Lundgaard won the other three street course races, as Honda swept the street events last year. Honda has won seven consecutive street course races dating back to 2022.
It should come as no surprise that Palou led all drivers in street course points last year with 185, 19 points more than Kirkwood and 29 points more than Ericsson. Despite not winning a street race, and having only one top five finish in the street races, Scott McLaughlin was fourth on 137 points, one more than Scott Dixon.
Last season was the second time in three seasons Team Penske failed to win a street race. It won the first three street races in 2022 with all three of its drivers, Scott McLaughlin at St. Petersburg, Josef Newgarden at Long Beach and Will Power at Belle Isle. Scott Dixon won the final two street course races that year at Toronto and Nashville.
Familiar names struggled on street courses last year. Patricio O'Ward may have been second at St. Petersburg, but his next best street result was eighth and he finished outside the top fifteen in two of those races. O'Ward was tenth in street points on 108, two fewer than Marcus Armstrong. Colton Herta had three fewer points than O'Ward, and Herta finished outside the top ten in three of five street races, including finishing 20th or worse in two of them.
While Alexander Rossi was in the top five in two street races, he was outside the top fifteen in the other three, ending up 14th in street points on 96, one fewer than Romain Grosjean, who was second at Long Beach, but outside the top fifteen in three street races. Graham Rahal scored only 88 points in the five street races last year.
The last four first-time winners in IndyCar have all come on street courses, including Kirkwood and Lundgaard last season. For three consecutive seasons, at least one first-time winner has occurred in a street race.
There will be 13 drivers entered at St. Petersburg looking for a first career victory. Three times has St. Petersburg produced a first-time winner. Those were Graham Rahal in 2008, James Hinchcliffe in 2013 and Scott McLaughlin 2022.
Procedural Changes
A few things will look different this IndyCar season, and you will see them straight away at St. Petersburg, specifically in first practice.
In an effort to increase participation in the practice session, the first 20 minutes of practice will be open to every car to participate. After the first 20 minutes, the field will be divided into two groups, determined by alternating pit boxes, and each group will get to take to the track in alternating ten-minute increments.
Group one will get the first ten minutes before being called to pit lane where group two will get the next ten minutes. The groups will alternate until all 75 minutes of the practice session has elapsed.
This new practice format will be trialed at St. Petersburg and future use will be decided based on how this weekend goes.
During the race, there will be a new restart procedure. A restart line will be painted at the exit of the final turn. Drivers must remain in line and cannot pass until a driver has crossed the line.
This has been introduced after a number of accidents on restarts, most notable in last year's season finale at Laguna Seca. Three of the eight cautions in that Laguna Seca race were due to incidents in the final corner with cars coming to the restart.
One thing you will see on the race cars will be a new LED light strip on the edge of the rear wing endplates in an effort to improve awareness of a car ahead on track in wet conditions. With the introduction of aeroscreen and the center bar down the middle, the LED rain light on the rear attenuators was obscured to the trailing drivers.
Road to Indy
The Road to Indy brings 64 cars to St. Petersburg this weekend for the opening road in all three series. Indy Lights has 21 cars entered, the most since July 4, 2009 at Watkins Glen, a race that J.R. Hildebrand won, and in which James Hinchcliffe was last.
Nolan Siegel is the top returning driver from the 2023 championship, Siegel was third in points, and he already has a foot in IndyCar, as he is scheduled to run three championship races for Dale Coyne Racing this year, including the Indianapolis 500, as well as the exhibition race at Thermal Club. The Californian began last season with four podium finishes, including two victories, in the first six races, but he had only one podium result in the final eight events.
Siegel is one of ten HMD Motorsports supported drivers this season. Also in the team will be Myles Rowe, the 2023 USF Pro 2000 champion, who will be driving the Force Indy supported entry. Reece Gold, Josh Pierson and Christian Bogle are back as well. There are five other rookies with the team, including Caio Collet, a Brazilian moving over from FIA Formula Three. Callum Hedge joins the team after winning the 2023 Formula Regional Americas Championship.
Jonathan Browne, Nolan Allaer and Niels Koolen round out the HMD lineup.
There are seven returning regulars from last season, including three of the four Andretti Global entries. Louis Foster was fourth in the championship last year, and his 2023 season ended up the upswing. After having only three podium finishes in the first ten races, Foster was on the podium in three of the final four events. James Roe, Jr. was seventh in the championship with only one podium result, and Jamie Chadwick is back after her best finish was sixth at Portland.
American Bryce Aron rounds out the Andretti lineup. Aron spent the previous four years competing in Europe. His best achievement was finishing fifth in the 2020 Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch, and then finishing third in the Walter Hayes Trophy at Silverstone later that year.
Andretti Global is also running two cars in partnership with Cape Motorsports. Salvador de Alba and Michael d'Orlando both move up from USF Pro 2000. D'Orlando is currently only confirmed for St. Petersburg.
Jacob Abel was fifth in the championship last year, but fell short of a race victory. Abel is back with Abel Motorsports, and he will have Josh Mason and Yuven Sundaramoorthy as his teammates.
Lindsay Brewer and Jack William Miller round out the Indy Lights grid. Both drivers are moving up from USF Pro 2000 with Juncos Hollinger Racing and Miller Vinatieri Motorsports respectively.
The Indy Lights race is scheduled for 45 laps or 55 minutes, and it will take place at 10:10 a.m. ET on Sunday March.
Twenty-two USF Pro 2000 cars will be competing this weekend.
The 2023 U.S. F2000 champion Simon Sikes moves up with Pabst Racing, where his teammates will be Christian Brooks and Jace Denmark. Denmark is the top returning driver to USF Pro 2000. He was seventh in the championship last year.
Nikita Johnson was runner-up in U.S. F2000, and Johnson won two races at the end of last USF Pro 2000 season. He continues on with VRD Racing. Shawn Rashid will be Johnson's teammate this weekend. Lochie Hughes makes it the top three from U.S. F2000 graduating up a level. Hughes is one of five Turn 3 Motorsport cars on the grid along with Adam Fitzgerald, Danny Dyszelski, Tyke Durst and Ethan Ho.
Mac Clark moves up with DEForce Racing after finishing fifth in U.S. F2000 the year before. Clark's teammate from last year Jorge Garciarce also moves up with DEForce. They will have Nicholas Monteiro join the team in a three-car lineup.
BN Racing had two quick drivers in testing with Colombian Nicolás Baptiste and Mexican Ricardo Escotto. Exclusive Autosport sees the return of Braden Eves, a past USF Pro 2000 race winner who did not compete last year. Avery Towns will be in a second Exclusive Autosport seat. TJ Speed Motorsports has entered three cars for Liam Sceats, Hunter Yeany and David Morales.
Jay Howard Driver Development is down to one car for Frankie Mossman. Logan Adams will drive for Comet/NCMP Racing.
Race one for USF Pro 2000 will run at 11:55 a.m. ET on Saturday March 9 with the second race on Sunday March 10 at 8:00 a.m. ET. Each race will be 25 laps or 45 minutes.
For U.S. F2000, 21 cars will be on the grid.
Evagoras Papasavvas was fourth in the championship last year, and he is back with Jay Howard Driver Development with Tanner DeFabis and Michael Costello as his teammates.
Pabst Racing will be looking to retain the championship with a three-driver lineup with Max Garcia, Sam Corry and Hudson Schwartz. VRD Racing has Nico Christodoulou and Max Taylor leading the way. Cole Kleck and Xavier Kokai round out the VRD team.
USF Juniors champion Nicolas Giaffone joins the series with DEForce Racing in a five-car lineup. DEForce has the top two from USF Juniors last year, as Quinn Armstrong will drive for the team. Lucas Fecury, Maxwell Jamieson and Brady Golan are in the other three cars.
Exclusive Autosport is running a three-car team with Jack Jeffers, Joey Brienza and Thomas Schrage. DC Autosport has entered Carson Etter and Ayrton Houk this weekend. Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development continue with Elliot Cox this season.
U.S. F2000 kicks off the racing this weekend at 4:20 p.m. ET on Friday March 8. The second race will be at 4:45 p.m. ET on Saturday March 9. Both races are scheduled for 20 laps or 45 minutes.
Fast Facts
This will be the fourth IndyCar race to take place on March 10 and the first since Josef Newgarden won at St. Petersburg in 2019.
The other March 10 winners were Bobby Unser at Ontario in 1974 and Cristiano da Matta at Monterrey in 2002.
All three March 10 winners have gone on to win the championship in those three respective seasons.
Chip Ganassi Racing has won three of the last four season openers with three different drivers at three different circuits (Scott Dixon at Texas in 2020, Álex Palou at Barber Motorsports Park in 2021 and Marcus Ericsson at St. Petersburg in 2023).
Chip Ganassi Racing has not won consecutive season openers at the same venue since Dan Wheldon won at Homestead in 2006 and 2007.
Last year, Marcus Ericsson won with only four laps led. It is the fewest laps led for a St. Petersburg winner. The previous lowest laps led for a St. Petersburg winner was ten laps by Dan Wheldon in 2005.
Of the ten teams on the grid, only Arrow McLaren, Ed Carpenter Racing, Meyer Shank Racing and Juncos Hollinger Racing have never won an IndyCar season opener.
Andretti Global has not won a season opener since James Hinchcliffe won at St. Petersburg in 2013.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's only season opener victory was Homestead in 2000 with Max Papis. A.J. Foyt Racing's most recent season opener victory was the 1996-97 Indy Racing League opener at Loudon with Scott Sharp.
Since reunification, five of the 16 champions won the season opener.
Since reunification, 14 of 16 champions have finished in the top ten of the first race of the season. Nine of those 16 drivers were on the podium in the opening race and ten of 15 finished in the top five.
The average starting position for a St. Petersburg winner is 5.25 with a median of fourth.
Last year, Marcus Ericsson became the sixth driver to win from fourth starting position at St. Petersburg. Fourth starting position has produced the most St. Petersburg winners, including in four consecutive years from 2013 to 2016.
Four times has the pole-sitter won at St. Petersburg, including in two of the last three years.
The third-place starter has never won at St. Petersburg.
Only twice has the St. Petersburg started outside the top ten (Sébastien Bourdais from 21st in 2017 and Sébastien Bourdais from 14th in 2018).
The average number of lead changes in a St. Petersburg race is 6.45 with a median of seven.
Five of the last seven St. Petersburg races have had seven or more lead changes.
The average number of cautions in a St. Petersburg race is 4.15 with a median of five. The average number of caution laps is 18.15 with a median of 18.
Last year's St. Petersburg race had five cautions for 26 laps. It was the 11th St. Petersburg race to feature at least five cautions and the tenth St. Petersburg race to feature at least 20 caution laps.
Predictions
Colton Herta gets off the snide early this season and wins a thriller over Scott McLaughlin. Álex Palou continues his top ten streak. There will not be a seven-car pileup on the first lap. No car will be launched into the air. One of the Dale Coyne Racing entries will have a mechanical issue. Patricio O'Ward has no engine woes this weekend. Callum Ilott will qualify ahead of Alexander Rossi and at least make the second round of qualifying. Linus Lundqvist will be the top rookie by at least five positions and finish in the top ten. Sleeper: Marcus Ericsson.
