2025 Race of Champions Preview

After a two-year hiatus, the Race of Champions returns and in a new location. For the first time ever, Race of Champions will be held in the Southern Hemisphere, taking place in Stadium Australia in Sydney, famously the host stadium of the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Twenty drivers are scheduled to compete in this year's competition from nine different countries. The draw has been set for both the Nations' Cup competition on Friday night and the Champion of Champions competition set for Saturday. 

For the Nations' Cup, nine countries have been divided into three groups of three. The two-time defending Nations' Cup champions Norway have received a bye into the quarterfinal round. The remaining seven spots in the knockout round will be determined in the group stage with the top two finishers from each group and the best third-best team advancing. 

Nations' Cup

Quarterfinals

Norway

Best Result: 1st (2022-23)
Drivers:

Petter Solberg : Three-time Nations' Cup champion (2014, 2022-23) and 2018 Champion of Champions Runner-Up

Oliver Solberg: Two-time Nations' Cup champion (2022-23), 2024 World Rally Championship-2 Vice Champion

The Solbergs won the Nations' Cup both years the competition was held in Sweden. The only nation to win the Nations' Cup in at least three consecutive competitions is Germany, which won six consecutive from 2007 through 2012. Petter also won the 2014 Nations' Cup as a member of the Nordic team with Tom Kristensen. 

Speaking of Kristensen, the Dane is not enters in this year's Race of Champions, the first time Kristensen is not a participant since 2004, ending a streak of 16 consecutive ROC appearances. Kristensen also competed in the Race of Champions in 2000 and 2001. Kristensen is a three-time Nations' Cup winner (2005, 2014 and 2019), and he is famously a five-time Champion of Champions runner-up.

Group A

Finland

Best Result: 1st (1998, 2006)
Drivers:

Valtteri Bottas: Ten-time Formula One Grand Prix winner

Heikki Kovalainen: 2004 Champion of Champions and 2006 Nations' Cup champion

Team All-Stars

Best Result: 1st (2003)
Drivers:

Johan Kristoffersson: 2019 Nations' Cup champion and seven-time World Rallycross champion

Chaz Mostert: 2024 GT World Challenge Australia champion, two-time Bathurst 100 winner and third in the 2024 Supercars championship

France

Best Result: 1st (2000, 2004)
Drivers:

Sébastien Loeb: Four-time Champion of Champions and 2004 Nations' Cup champion

Victors Martins: 2022 Formula Three champion and seventh in the 2024 Formula Two championship

Group Breakdown: This is a group of historic Race of Champions participants. All three teams have won the Nations' Cup previously, but none of them have won in the last 19 years. France and Finland were the first two countries to win the Nations' Cup multiple times. 

France's only final appearance since 2004 was in 2012 when Sébastien Ogier and Romain Grosjean were runners-up to Germany. Finland lost the 2007 final to Germany with Kovalainen and Marcus Grönholm. The All-Stars were runner-up in 2023 with Felipe Drugovich and Thierry Neuville as its representatives. An All-Star team won in 2003 with Fonsi Nieto, Cristiano da Matta and Gilles Panizzi.

Group B

Australia (Supercars)

Best Result: Semifinalists (2012)
Drivers:

Brodie Kostecki: 2023 Supercars champion

Will Brown: 2024 Supercars champion

Australia (Off-Road)

Best Result: Semifinalists (2012)
Drivers:

Molly Taylor: Two-time Extreme E champion and 2016 Australian Rally Championship

Toby Price: Two-time Dakar Rally winner (bike class) and 2024 Baja 500 winner 

New Zealand

Best Result: Race of Champions Debut
Drivers:

Hayden Paddon: Two-time European Rally champion

Louis Sharp: 2024 GB3 Championship champion

Group Breakdown: Group B is nothing but debutants. All six drivers competing have never competed in Race of Champions previously, and for the first time ever, New Zealand is participating in the Nations' Cup. Paddon is a World Rally Championship veterans with 82 appearance, and he has won the ERC title the last two years. Sharp will enter Formula Three this year with Rodin Motorsport. 

The host nation Australia gets two teams. This is the first time Australia has competed in the Nations' Cup since 2015 when Daniel Ricciardo and Mick Doohan paired to lose to Germany in the first round. Kostecki replaced seven-time Supercars champion Jamie Whincup, who withdrew due to Cyclone Alfred threatening to hit Queensland, and Whincup wished to remain with his family.

Group C

Germany

Best Result: 1st (2007-12, 2017-18)
Drivers:

Sebastian Vettel: Four-time World Drivers' Champion, 2015 Champion of Champions and seven-time Nations' Cup champion

Mick Schumacher: 2020 Formula Two champion and 2023 Champion of Champions runner-up

United States

Best Result: 1st (2002)
Drivers:

Travis Pastrana: 2006 Nations' Cup runner-up

Kurt Busch: 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and 2015 Nations' Cup runner-up

Great Britain

Best Result: 2nd (2009, 2010, 2014)*
Drivers:

David Coulthard: Two-time Champion of Champions

Alister McRae: 2011 Asia-Pacific Rally Champion

Group Breakdown: While Germany has the most Nations' Cup championships, it has not won in the last three Race of Champions, its longest drought since it went winless in the first eight Nations' Cups. Vettel and Schumacher were runners-up in 2019 in Mexico when the Nordic team of Tom Kristensen and Johan Kristoffersson took the title. 

The United States was Nations' Cup runner-up in 2022 with Jimmie Johnson and Colton Herta. Coulthard's only appearance in a Nations' Cup final was when Great Britain was runner-up in 2014 in Barbados to the Nordic team with Kristensen and Petter Solberg. Susie Wolff was Coulthard's co-driver that year. McRae is replacing his son Max, who injured his hand in the British Rally Championship. This is McRae's third ROC appearance, who competed in 2000 and 2007.

Champion of Champions

For the Champion of Champions competition on Saturday, 18 drivers will be split into six groups for the group stage. A spot in the group stage has been reserved for the eROC competition winner, which pits sim racers against one another in the virtual and real world competitions. The eROC competitions will be held before the Nations' Cup on Friday.

Automatically positioned into the quarterfinals will be four-time Champion of Champions Sébastien Loeb, and 2023 Champion of Champions runner-up Mick Schumacher.

The six group winners will advance to the quarterfinals. 

The six groups have been divided in half with the first three groups comprised of rally drivers with the next three groups consisting of circuit racing drivers.

Group A

Johan Kristoffersson 

Best Result: Semifinalist (2018, 2023)

Molly Taylor

Best Result: This is his debut.

eROC Winner

Group Breakdown: In the last two Race of Champions held in his native Sweden, Kristoffersson lost in the quarterfinals, to Mattias Ekström both years. Ekström went on to win the competition in 2023, a record-tying fourth for Ekström, who was unable to participate in this year's competition due to illness. Taylor has made 17 appearances in the World Rally Championship, most recently the 2021 Rally Finland.

The Group A winner will face Loeb in the quarterfinals. Each of Loeb's four Champion of Champions title have come in four different countries, but all in Europe. He won the final year on the Canary Islands in 2003 before winning the second year at Stade de France in Paris in 2005. He won the final year at Wembley Stadium in London in 2007, and Loeb won the first year at Piteå, Sweden in 2022.

Group B

Travis Pastrana

Best Result: Quarterfinalist (2006-07, 2017)

Heikki Kovalainen

Best Result: 1st (2004)

Oliver Solberg

Best Result: Quarterfinalist (2022-23)

Group Breakdown: This will be Pastrana's tenth appearance in the Race of Champions while Kovalainen makes his ROC return for the first time since 2010. Kovalainen defeated Pastrana twice in the 2006 Nations' Cup final to take the title for Finland. Pastrana competed in the Nations' Cup solo that year and went 5-4 over the three rounds, defeating Germany and Scotland to make the final. Solberg won the WRC2 event at Rally Sweden last month.

Group C

Petter Solberg

Best Result: 2nd (2018)

Toby Price

Best Result: This is his debut.

Hayden Paddon

Best Result: This is his debut.

Group Breakdown: Solberg failed to make it out of the round of 16 in the two Swedish editions of Race of Champions. He lost to eventual winner Sébastien Loeb in 2022 and his son Oliver in 2023. Price made his first Dakar Rally start in the car class this year with Toyota, but retired. Paddon's only World Rally Championship victory was the 2016 Rally Argentina over Sébastien Ogier and Andreas Mikkelsen.

Group B and Group C winners will face-off in the quarterfinals.

Group D

Sebastian Vettel

Best Result: 1st (2015)

Brodie Kostecki

Best Result: This is his debut.

Louis Sharp

Best Result: This is his debut.

Group Breakdown: Though famed for his six Nations' Cup championships, Vettel has only won the Champion of Champions competition once. His only other finals appearance was in 2022 when he lost to Loeb. His semifinal lost in 2023 to fellow German Mick Schumacher was the third time Vettel has lost in the semifinal round. He lost to Mick's father Michael in 2009 and the eventual Champion of Champions in 2010, Filipe Albuquerque. Kostecki won the Bathurst 1000 last year. Prior to his GB3 championship last year, Sharp won the F4 British Championship in 2023.

Group E

Valtteri Bottas

Best Result: Round of 16 (2023)

Kurt Busch

Best Result: Quarterfinalist (2014)

Chaz Mostert

Best Result: This is his debut.

Group Breakdown: Busch competed in the 2014 competition in Bushy Park. He was undefeated in his group, defeating Petter Solberg, Barbadian Rhett Watson and Susie Wolff, but then lost to Jamie Whincup in the quarterfinals. In 2017, Busch failed to get out of his group, with losses to David Coulthard and Tom Kristensen and his only consolation was victory over Ryan Hunter-Reay. In Bottas' ROC debut two years ago, he lost both legs of his first round matchup against Kristensen. On three occasions did Mostert compete in Supercars on the Homebush street circuit, which went around the Sydney Olympic Park. His best finish on that track was fifth in 2014.

Group D and Group E winners will meet in the quarterfinals.

Group F

Will Brown

Best Result: This is his debut.

David Coulthard

Best Result: 1st (2014, 2018)

Victor Martins

Best Result: This is his debut.

Group Breakdown: Coulthard is probably thankful the ROC is out of the Arctic. He failed to get out of the preliminary round in 2023, and lost in the round of 16 in 2022. Brown opened the Supercars season last week with finishes fifth, third and second at Sydney Motorsports Park. Martins has two Formula Two victories, the 2023 Silverstone feature race and the 2024 Barcelona sprint race.

The Group F winner will face Schumacher in the quarterfinals. Prior to last year's runner-up performance, Schumacher lost to Jamie Chadwick in the preliminary round in 2022, and he lost in the 2019 quarterfinals to Esteban Gutiérrez.

There will be six vehicles used in this year's competition. There will be an FC2 rallycross car as well as a Supercar Lite rallycross car. The KTM X-Bow Comp R will be used, ten years after the KTM X-Bow was last used in the competition. The Polaris RZR Pro R is back after being used in Sweden.

Suburu makes its Race of Champions debut with the BRZ tS and Toyota is back with the GR86. The Toyota GT-86 was used in the 2012 competition from Bangkok. 

The Nations' Cup will begin at 3:30 a.m. ET on Friday March 7 with the Champion of Champions competition taking place at 3:30 a.m. ET on Saturday March 8. 

Musings From the Weekend: We Need a Season Where Ganassi and Penske Are Not a Factor

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

It was a good weekend for the Márquez family. Cadillac laid an egg in Qatar. Ferrari swept a podium, and Corvette came out on top. The fastest car in Formula One testing from Bahrain was a Williams. Everyone believes in McLaren, are uncertain about Red Bull, think Ferrari is good but not great, and Mercedes looks destined for a long season. There was a popular result in Daytona. Austin came up with a shortcut. Álex Palou led a Chip Ganassi Racing 1-2 at St. Petersburg ahead of Scott Dixon with Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin making it a Team Penske 3-4. That has me thinking...

We Need a Season Where Ganassi and Penske Are Not a Factor

With another IndyCar season opener brings the usual excitement for the year ahead. 

Drivers have moved around. Some have remained put. New names are ready to surprise us. Old names look to keep status quo. Anything can happen in an IndyCar season.

And yet, we all know the season will have one of three possible outcomes. 

Either a Team Penske driver is going to control the championship and win without really feeling like they are in that much danger. 

Álex Palou will continue to be Álex Palou and no one will be able to exceed his level of output. 

Or Scott Dixon is going to do something unthinkable and leave us all amazed. 

Anybody can win in IndyCar, but we all know who the champion will be. 

It is the vexing state of the series. In any given race, anybody could win. 

Alexander Rossi and Ed Carpenter Racing find great balance in the car at Gatewayand turn that into a victory? Absolutely plausible. 

Felix Rosenqvist being lightning quick at Long Beach and nobody is able to keep up as he wins after leading 81 of 90 laps to give Meyer Shank Racing its second victory? We could all see it happening.

Graham Rahal getting off the snide as Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing continues to find its sweet spot on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course? History would suggest it was bound to happen. 

Seven teams could win a race this year and no one would think it was strange. There would be no surprise if A.J. Foyt Racing won an oval event or even Conor Daly winning with Juncos Hollinger Racing on an oval. A team can find its wheelhouse and have all the stars align. They don't even need luck. These teams can produce a car capable of winning and then nail a race from start to finish to take an unlikely victory, and none of us would be stunned to see it. 

When it comes to the championship though... naturally, that's harder to win than a single race. 

Anyone can have one sensational day or possibly even two, but a championship requires a full season of great days. Perhaps a team can overcome a mulligan or two, but no team is getting lucky 15 times in a season. The best win championships. They arrive and perform at the highest level nine times out of ten. 

For over a decade now, the only teams capable of that are Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing. The two organizations have combined to win the last 12 championships. The "Big Three" was declared dead a few years ago. There are two options. 

Chocolate or vanilla?

Paper or plastic?

Great taste or less filling?

The only thing that saves IndyCar from the entire season being a complete bore is neither team has a dedicated number one driver. It hasn't exactly been "A" or "B" for a decade where we know what driver each team wants to win. It will be one of their drivers, but the door is open to any of them, and the teams will let the drivers battle it out on the track. You just have to hope you enjoy which of three flavors you get. 

Consider the 2017 season. 

There were seven different winners in the first seven races. And none of them were Chip Ganassi Racing drivers. The first repeat winner was Graham Rahal. That is what makes IndyCar fantastic. Something like that could happen and nobody would think it is peculiar. Sébastien Bourdais winning with Dale Coyne Racing? Makes sense. Takuma Sato winning the Indianapolis 500? With Andretti Autosport, sure! Rahal sweeping the Belle Isle doubleheader? That team had it clicking. 

None of those results were fluky. These weren't cases of drivers getting lucky week after week and the winners not matching the result. 

Of course, the season still ended with a Team Penske driver as champion, but it was tolerable and celebrated because it was Josef Newgarden breaking through in his first year with the team. Newgarden caught his opportunity and seized it immediately. He immediately showed he was up to the task and the hype was justified. For an American driver who had pulled off some impressive results with smaller teams, this is what we all hoped for, the next generation showing up and making a name for itself.

We can have Newgarden win a championship or Álex Palou win a championship out of nowhere and it overshadows the reality. Will Power can win a championship eight years after his first title and we can all be pleased with it. Scott Dixon can open a season with three consecutive victories and go wire-to-wire to claim a title and we are awed by it. We can find joy in those accomplishments and performances, but when you step back and take a 10,000-foot view of it, you cannot ignore how the landscape looks. 

Dominance is common across all forms of motorsports, but it is the one thing IndyCar has not been able to buck. Anyone can win, but it is only a moment in the sun. It is never a seismic shift in the series. That next great superpower has not arose, and it has been quite sometime. You can only promote anyone can win for so long before you must acknowledge that it is never sustained over an entire season. We have yet to see it be “Ed Carpenter Racing’s year” or “Meyer Shank Racing’s year.” At best, those teams get a race.

IndyCar would benefit from a season where neither Ganassi nor Penske were in the picture for the championship. I am not saying have both teams nosedive and no longer be competitive for the rest of eternity, but a refreshing season with completely different names competing at the top would be a shift the series could use. 

The organizations are there. Andretti Global was once considered part of the problem, but we are going on 13 years since it last won a championship. Arrow McLaren talks like it is there, but it must win now. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has been competitive in IndyCar and sports cars. Ten years ago, RLLR and even Ed Carpenter Racing had a driver with a shot at the title entering the final race of the season. Meyer Shank Racing is a championship team from sports cars. Any of those teams have what it takes, but it just never works out that way in IndyCar. 

A year without Ganassi or Penske in the battle would put different names in view. It would also give us a storyline we have not see in two decades now, two powerhouse teams struggling. Penske's worst season in the last 20 years was a still season where it won three times, one of those races was the Indianapolis 500, and it only lost the championship on tiebreaker after three of its drivers entered the finale with a shot at the title. Ganassi has had a top five championship finisher in 18 of the last 19 seasons. In the one season it didn't, Dixon was sixth and won twice, a solid year for 85% of the grid. 

For the sake of something different, it would be intriguing to watch Ganassi and Penske have to battle try to find its way back to the front. It would at least give us something else to watch. The races would have the unknown fighting at the front in a battle where we would be uncertain who would come out on top, and the stalwarts would be giving us something to watch at the back. Whether they could pull out the results or not would be the mystery. It would not be boring that is for sure.

Ganassi and Penske are not going anywhere. We can hope one day we will see greater variety in the championship battle, and a few different teams take control of an entire season. Theoretically, it could be this year, but after seeing both teams combine to sweep the top four positions in the season opener, it will likely have to be another year.

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Álex Palou, but did you know...

Marc Márquez won MotoGP's Thailand Grand Prix and the sprint race. Manuel González won the Moto2 race. José Antonio Rueda won the Moto3 race.

The #50 Ferrari of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen won the Qatar 1812. The #33 TF Sport Corvette of Daniel Juncadella, Jonny Edgar and Ben Keating won in LMGT3.

Christopher Bell won the NASCAR Cup race from Austin, his second consecutive victory. Connor Zilisch won the Grand National Series race.

Dennis Hauger won the Indy Lights race from St. Petersburg. Alessandro de Tullio and Max Garcia split the USF Pro 2000 races. Liam McNeilly swept the U.S. F2000 races.

Ken Roczen won the Supercross race from Daytona. R.J. Hampshire won the 250cc race.

Coming Up This Weekend

The best drivers in the world descend on Australia... for the Race of Champions in Sydney.

NASCAR will be in Phoenix. 

Supercross heads north to Indianapolis. 

Super Formula opens its season with a doubleheader at Suzuka.

First Impressions: St. Petersburg 2025

1. We might need to start re-training our brains. As the pit strategy was playing out and Scott Dixon was leading all the drivers who had met the requirement of using both tire compounds and only needing one more stop for fuel, it looked like Dixon was about to pull off another masterclass performance and stealing a race out from underneath everybody. 

It made sense. Dixon had all the pieces lined up in his favor. The one thing that was lined up against was his teammate. 

Álex Palou was only two spots behind Dixon and within sight. Dixon may have made the mistake of going one lap too long. He was behind the back-marker of Jacob Abel. Palou came in and one lap created enough open track for Palou to zoom through to the lead when Dixon emerged from the pit lane. With clear track ahead, Palou left the field in the dust. 

Perhaps the old man doesn't have it anymore, or perhaps it was just a bad radio. It was a good run and Dixon is still better than most competing today, but Palou is the best. He didn't learn it. Palou had the same gift Dixon has possessed and displayed in IndyCar for the last two decades. Perhaps Palou has refined the ability over the last few seasons, but he has had this since he joined the Chip Ganassi Racing organization. We saw it on day one with a victory at Barber Motorsports Park. 

Day one of the 2025 season could not a worse result for the rest of the IndyCar grid. The champion remains on top. Everyone chased him for most of last year and the year before that. Now, everyone is chasing Palou from day one this season. We didn't see anyone catch him the previous two years. This could be a long year ahead.

When Palou has this in his arsenal, the ability to flip tire strategy into his favor without doing much beyond pacing himself, it feels near impossible to defeat him. Palou will be able to do this another two or three times this season if needed. When you cannot match it, the only option is to be outright faster, and Palou isn't going to let that be the case for most of the season. 

The question we must ask ourselves when a race begins to turn into a strategy quagmire, "How can Álex Palou win this?" It is no longer Scott Dixon the first driver that should come to mind. 

2. It wasn't Scott Dixon's day. Radio issues cost him and likely caused him to stay out longer than his wished. Despite all the problems, he was still good enough to finish second. We will never know if Dixon would have been able to hold off Palou if the radio had worked. With how Palou drove, I think it might have still played out this way with the Catalan driver on top. 

It could be the case that the only driver better than Dixon is his teammate Palou, which is good for Ganassi, as it can begin a season with a 1-2 finish. Dixon did everything right. He hasn't truly lost it, but right when it looked like it was his day, going one lap long cost him. We are not used to Dixon losing races because he was the one to run one too many laps behind a back-marker. 

Dixon was great. It is tough when he is not the best even within his own team. There should not be any major concern. There will be one or two races this year where Palou isn't this good and Dixon will be the one to come out on top. It felt like the season opener was meant to be his.

3. Sting Ray Robb will be credited with the assist because this race was not as close as it should have been. Josef Newgarden benefitted from the traffic slowing Palou for much of the final stint, but once cleared, Newgarden did not have enough to pounce on the opportunity created. It actually poised a problem as Newgarden ran out of fuel coming to the checkered flag, and that is what led Dixon to take second on the final lap.

Losing a spot on the final lap aside, this is the start Newgarden needed. Last year, Newgarden was all over the place. He won but then he could not avoid bad days. He made mistakes and he cost himself. He needed to start this season with a good performance. He did that and he was on the same strategy as Palou and Dixon. He kept up with those two and likely should have been between them if he had just a little more fuel.

4. This race was determined before a green flag lap was completed. 

With the alternate tire having a significantly short tire life, some teams decided to start on it and hope to get it off the car as quickly as possible. When Will Power spun Nolan Siegel in turn three on the opening lap, collecting Louis Foster in the process, everyone on the alternate tire stopped immediately under that caution after running two laps. 

Palou, Dixon and Newgarden all started on the alternate tire. They finished 1-2-3. Scott McLaughlin started on the primary tire and he finished fourth. McLaughlin's only hope was to run away in that opening stint, and it appeared to be working. With the tire life of the alternate, McLaughlin was handcuffed. He did 13 laps on the alternate tire, but it cost him track position, and it was not a case of where he could make up ground on the primary tire. 

The only thing that saved McLaughlin's day was the opening stint. If the opening lap incident doesn't happen, this race plays out better for McLaughlin. I cannot say for certain he wins it, but it would not have been as constricting. The top three basically never had to run the alternate tire. They did three corners in anger and then paced around for a lap-and-a-half. That is a big difference than having to run 13 laps and making a green flag pit stop to get off the alternate tire.

5. How do we know this? Because Kyle Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson ended up fifth and sixth, and they both started on the alternate tire. The top six finishers started eighth, sixth, tenth, first, ninth and seventh. Once clear of the alternate tire, without ever really using the tires during the race, these five drivers were sitting pretty. Kirkwood didn't do anything brilliant today. He kept his nose clean and got a top five finish. He made no mistakes. He did nothing special, but sometimes that is how you get a great result.

6. The same can be said for Marcus Ericsson. I don't think Ericsson was mentioned once during the broadcast. He didn't make a mistake. He didn't overdrive the car. Once clear of the alternate tire, he gave up some track position, but Ericsson knew the result would come on lap 100, not on lap three. Others had to face a difficult stint. Ericsson didn't and it led to a good result.

7. Another year and another example of Felix Rosenqvist dropping down the order after starting at the front. Rosenqvist didn't do anything poorly. He was holding his own against McLaughlin in that opening stint, but he got a double-whammy after his first pit stop. 

First, he was on the alternate tire and the battle was just beginning, but he also came out in traffic and this allowed McLaughlin to be safe once he stopped on the following lap. That cost Rosenqvist additional time and positions. 

It worked out with a seventh-place finish in the end. It isn't what you want from a third-place grid spot. It is a theme of Rosenqvist's career. Qualify at the front, finish worse than that. If that opening lap accident doesn't happen, this race is set up to go in a different direction. There was nothing Rosenqvist could have done once the equation happened. 

Six cars starting in the top ten started on the primary tire, and four cars starting in the top ten started on the alternate tire. Five of alternate starters finished better than where they started. The four primary starters all finished worse than where they started. Rosenqvist was just one of four dealt a bad hand.

8. Christian Lundgaard did not put on the alternate tire for the middle stint, but it did force Lundgaard into a three-stop race. There was no way the alternate tire would be effective for an entire stint. He put the tires on with 31 laps to go, and we knew the extra stop was coming. The smart decision was to take that extra stop when everyone else was stopping. Lundgaard did four laps on the alternate tire and stopped when the rest of the leaders were making their final stops. Lundgaard already lost the time, but it was better than trying to run 12 laps and likely losing more spots as everyone else was running laps. 

Lundgaard drove well, and he led Arrow McLaren on a weekend when I don't think anyone expected that to be necessary. It still was not a great weekend for the team, but Lundgaard was a big plus this weekend.

9. After not finishing better than 13th in 2024, Dale Coyne Racing opens the season with a ninth-place finish with Rinus VeeKay behind the wheel, and VeeKay started 12th. He showed pace all weekend. VeeKay started on the alternate tire, a good choice today. Even after that, he spent a great amount of this race in the top ten. 

The last driver hired showed it wasn't his ability that kept him on the sideline for that long. This should feel good for him and the team. It is going to be a long year, and there will be rough spots, but VeeKay has shown life post-Ed Carpenter Racing can be positive.

10. Speaking of Ed Carpenter Racing, Rinus VeeKay beat the driver who replaced him, though Alexander Rossi deserves credit for turning nothing into something. Rossi started on the primary tire and went from 20th to fifth once everyone on the alternate tire stopped on lap two. Rossi ran the same strategy as Lundgaard, ironically the driver that replaced Rossi at Arrow McLaren, and Rossi went a little longer on the alternate tire, seven laps, but he too stopped when the rest of the leaders did to minimize the time lost. 

For what Rossi lost on tire strategy, he gained from track position after the early pit stops. Rossi was moved to the front and stayed there. Tenth from 20th is a good day no matter how you got it.

11. Patricio O'Ward made the odd choice of starting on the primary tire, stopping on lap two to get the alternate tire out of the way and then running 20 laps and appearing to torpedo his entire race. Somehow it worked out and a four-stop strategy turned into an 11th-place finish. 

O'Ward started 23rd, and he would have been in the top ten had he stayed out. I get doing something different, but I think McLaren believed it could make the alternate tire work longer than everyone expected. That didn't work out. The strange thing is, I think O'Ward ends up finishing 11th either way. I don't see how there was a better strategy. He pulled out an 11th when it appeared it was going to be a disaster.

12. Graham Rahal did benefit from the track position of starting on the primary tire. He went from 21st on the grid to inside the top ten by lap three, and he spent much of the race right on the edge of the top ten. Considering how this weekend began, 12th is a small victory for this team. Rahal was the slowest in a three-car team where he is clearly the most trusted driver. This could have been a deflating weekend out of the gate. It wasn't great, but there is something to draw from this one.

13. David Malukas won the intra-team battle at A.J. Foyt Racing in race #1, finishing 13th with Santino Ferrucci in 14th. Both drivers started on the primary tire. Malukas and Ferrucci started 17th and 19th respectively. It feels like the team should have split the strategy and one of those drivers should have started on the alternate. It felt like these two were set up to miss out on the top ten once the race restarted, and that is what happened. Not their worse days, but they were caught in a pickle and could not work out of it.

14. Here is an interesting thing. Of the six top ten starters that started on the alternate tire, only Colton Herta finished worse than his starting position, and that was because Herta's crew had a pit stop from hell where the right-rear tire could not be secured and the team could not get the car full of fuel despite the extra time spent waiting on the tire. 

A grand total of 14 cars stared on the alternate tire, just over half the grid. Seven of those drivers started 14th or worse. Christian Rasmussen started on the alternate tire and went from 24th to 15th. I cannot say Rasmussen did anything more than not start on the primary tire as the reason he made up nine spots. 

15. Chalk it up to the pit crew letting Colton Herta down again. It was bound to happen at some point. This is the mulligan gone. Maybe Herta can afford a second one, but Herta was ahead of Palou, Dixon, Newgarden, Kirkwood and so on before that pit stop with the alternate compound out of the way. 

The tire issue is one thing. The fuel issue is inexcusable. With just the tire issue, Herta likely can recover and possibly break into the top ten. The combination of the two killed anything positive from the opening race, and that is something Herta cannot afford if he wants to be champion and be greater than he has ever been in this series. 

16. Conor Daly was 17th. Yeah. Started 22nd, got off the alternate tire and still finished 17th. That is where Juncos Hollinger Racing runs. Sting Ray Robb looks like Sting Ray Robb. Third team, same look. A lap down in 21st.

17. While Chip Ganassi Racing went 1-2 with Palou and Dixon, Kyffin Simpson was 18th. At least the checks clear.

18. I don't think Prema was hoping that 19th and 20th would be the best they could get in its first race in IndyCar, but 19th and 20th isn't horrible. 

Callum Ilott started 27th, dead last, and Ilott started on the primary tire, took the primary tire on the second stint, and then did 11 laps on the alternate tire. The only mistake might have not been able to run longer the second stint and done what Lundgaard and Rossi did, and only run five or six laps on the alternate.

Even if Ilott did that, it probably only saves him a spot or two. Not great, but the key thing is Ilott and Shwartzman each ran 100 laps. The team got the most data it possibly could from the first race. Onto the next one.

19. I don't know what happened to Devlin DeFrancesco, but he dropped from 14th to 22nd despite starting on the alternate tire and getting off of it immediately. For how this weekend was going, that was a rough end to it. The qualifying pace was a positive, but it would have been nice if the race pace followed for DeFrancesco. 

20. Jacob Abel didn't have the same speed as his teammate VeeKay. Abel ended up a lap down. I am not sure there is much to draw from this race. This is a difficult spot to be in. I don't think this result is indicative of Abel's ability. 

21. Marcus Armstrong had a good day ruined when he suffered left-rear suspension problems after running the opening stint in third. I don't know how the second stint would have played out for Armstrong on the alternate compound. It was shaping up to be a good day. If Rosenqvist ended up seventh, Armstrong could have finished in the top ten.

22. We made it three corners before the first accident of the season. Power tapped Siegel and it collected Foster. There was not much more to it than that. It didn't look good for Power. It wasn't the worst contact in the world, but if he doesn't touch Siegel, everyone makes it through the first lap clean and we might have seen caution-free race in St. Petersburg. 

It is harsh to all of them because nobody wants to start any race, let alone the first race of the season, that way. Siegel had a promising starting spot wasted, and Foster didn't really make a debut. Thermal cannot come soon enough for these three. 

23. This turned out to be a better race than expected partially because of the alternate tire. With St. Petersburg at 100 laps, it is a two-stop race for fuel. Firestone deserves credit for bringing a tire where it wasn't wise to try and make this a two-stop race. You do not need to stop three times, but with a tire that cannot go a stint length, it forces everyone's hand. Those who started on the alternate tire got fortunate. 

The best St. Petersburg races were the ones that were 110 laps because the pit windows were wide. We know five races this season were extended from their 2024 race lengths. We can only hope St. Petersburg could get those ten laps back in the future because it would definitely be a three-stop race, and if combined with the alternate compound we saw today, it would cause many headaches for the teams and drivers. 

24. This was a good start to the season. Good race. Open result. There is a little break until Thermal Club. At least we are easing into the season after such a lengthy break. 

Morning Warm-Up: St. Petersburg 2025

Scott McLaughlin opens the 2025 season with pole position for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. McLaughlin set a lap of 59.4624 seconds in the final round of qualifying, and it is the tenth pole position in his career. It is the New Zealander's second pole position for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. McLaughlin won the 2022 pole position, and then he won the race. Last year, he led IndyCar with five pole positions. None of those came at a street course. McLaughlin had an average finish of 22.25 on street courses last year with his best result being 16th at Toronto

Colton Herta joins McLaughlin on the front row after falling 0.1759 seconds off the Penske driver. Herta has finished in the top five in three of the last four St. Petersburg races, including a victory in 2021. This will be Herta's 100th career IndyCar start. Herta will be the second-youngest driver to reach 100 starts. Only Graham Rahal reached 100 starts at a younger age. Rahal and Herta are the only drivers to start 100 races before turning 25 years old.

Felix Rosenqvist leads an all-Meyer Shank Racing row two, as Rosenqvist put up the third-best time in the final round, 0.2365 seconds slower than McLaughlin. This is the second consecutive year Rosenqvist has started in the top three at St. Petersburg. His fifth-place result last year was his first top ten finish in this race since he was fourth on debut in 2019.

Marcus Armstrong starts fourth in his first race for MSR, as Armstrong was 0.3654 seconds off the top time. The New Zealander has finished in the top five of the last two IndyCar street races. Only Scott Dixon has a longer active streak of top five finishes on street courses with Dixon on three consecutive street races with a top five result. In each race Armstrong started in the top five last year, he ended up finishing 26th in the race.

Speaking of Scott Dixon, he qualified fifth, the third New Zealander in the top five spots. Dixon was 0.4039 seconds slower than his fellow Kiwi McLaughlin. Dixon has made 20 starts at St. Petersburg. There are only five other tracks where Dixon has started more than 20 races, Texas (25), Indianapolis Motor Speedway (22), Belle Isle (21), Iowa (21) and Mid-Ohio (21). Along with St. Petersburg, Iowa is the only other track Dixon has not won at. 

Christian Lundgaard begins his Arrow McLaren tenure as the best starting driver among the three-car effort as Lundgaard qualified sixth. His previous best starting position at St. Petersburg was 11th in 2023. Last season, Lundgaard's only top ten finish on a street course was seventh at Toronto. The Dane had multiple top ten finishes in street races in his first two full IndyCar seasons.

Marcus Ericsson was 0.0038 seconds short of advancing to the final round of qualifying. Starting seventh, this is the fourth consecutive year Ericsson has started in the top ten at St. Petersburg. The Swede's retirement in last year's St. Petersburg race ended a streak of four consecutive top ten finishes at the track.

Álex Palou missed out on a top six starting spot by 0.0367 seconds, and Palou will begin his title defense in eighth. Palou has seven top five finishes in his last eight street course starts. He has 15 top ten finishes in 18 street course starts with Chip Ganassi Racing. He has finished in the top ten of all four season openers he has raced with Ganassi.

Kyle Kirkwood finds himself in ninth, but Kirkwood was 0.0495 seconds outside the top six at the end of the second round of qualifying. The Floridian had top ten finishes in all four street course races last season. His average finish in street races was 5.75. That was the second-best in IndyCar behind only Scott Dixon's average street course finish of third.

Josef Newgarden starts tenth after being 0.1428 seconds off advancing. Newgarden has finished outside the top fifteen in the last three St. Petersburg races. Prior to that, he had three consecutive podium finishes in this race and five consecutive top ten results. Last season Newgarden's only top ten finish in a street race was fourth at Long Beach. His average street course finish was 16.75.

Nolan Siegel starts the 2025 season in 11th position. This matches Siegel's best career starting position, but this is his best start on a road or street course. His previous best was 16th at Mid-Ohio last year. Siegel won last year's Indy Lights race at St. Petersburg and he was second the year prior to that. 

After not starting better than 13th in any race in 2024, Dale Coyne Racing will start 12th in the first race of 2025 with Rinus VeeKay taking the team to the second round of qualifying. This is the first time DCR made the second round of qualifying since Nashville 2023. Despite having 94 drivers race for Dale Coyne Racing prior to VeeKay, VeeKay will be the first Dutch driver to race for the organization. 

Will Power fell 0.0179 seconds off advancing from the first group in the first round of qualifying, and this puts Power 13th on the grid for the season opener. It is only the second time Power did not make it out of the first round of qualifying at St. Petersburg. The other year was in 2021. Power has six top ten finishes in his last seven St. Petersburg starts. 

Devlin DeFrancesco makes his first IndyCar start in 539 days, and DeFrancesco was 0.084 seconds shy of advancing to the second round of qualifying on his return. The Canadian will start 14th. He had started 18th in his first two St. Petersburg visits. Last year, DeFrancesco competed in only the five IMSA endurance races driving the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini in the GTD class. He was second in class at Petit Le Mans. 

Kyffin Simpson starts 15th for the first race of 2025. Last year, Smpson had only one race where he started in the top fifteen. That was 12th at Road America. Simpson is credited with fastest lap in last year's St. Petersburg race after the disqualification of Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin. 

Louis Foster was the best rookie in qualifying, as Foster will start directly behind his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing teammate DeFrancesco in 16th. Foster has three podium finishes in four Road to Indy starts at St. Petersburg, but he never won at this circuit. 

David Malukas was the best A.J. Foyt Racing qualifier in his first weekend with the team, but it has Malukas starting 17th. Malukas was tenth in his most recent St. Petersburg start in 2023. He missed last year's race due to a wrist injury. Malukas was sixth in his most recent street course start last year at Toronto, his only street course race in 2024. 

Robert Shwartzman put Prema in 18th for its first IndyCar race. Shwartzman was 0.3674 seconds off advancing from the second qualifying group. He missed most of the Saturday morning practice session due to radio issues. Shwartzman will become the first Israeli driver to start an IndyCar race.

Santino Ferrucci had an off during the first qualifying group, and Ferrucci will start 19th. The Nutmegger enters the 2025 season with four consecutive top ten finishes. Ferrucci has never had five consecutive top ten results. The most recent A.J. Foyt Racing driver to score five consecutive top ten finishes was Eliseo Salazar, who had six consecutive top ten finishes over the 2000 and 2001 seasons.

Alexander Rossi's first race in the #20 Chevrolet sees Rossi start 20th. Rossi missed the first turn on his first qualifying run and was unable to have enough time for a proper second run. Rossi has finished sixth or better in four of the last seven St. Petersburg races. In the other three races, Rossi has finished 20th or worse.

Graham Rahal wound up taking 21st on the grid. This will be the second consecutive year Rahal has started on row 11 at St. Petersburg. Dating back to last season, this is the sixth consecutive race Rahal has started outside the top ten. Though the location of his first career victory, Rahal has only one other top five finish at St. Petrsburg in 17 starts, a second in 2018.

Conor Daly makes it four consecutive American drives on the grid in 22nd spot. Daly changed numbers at the last moment prior to first practice, now driving the #76 Chevrolet for Juncos Hollinger Racing, as the team picked up the gas station chain 76 as a sponsor. Daly has an average finish of 16th in six St. Petersburg starts with his best finish being 13th in 2016, his first St. Petersburg start.

Patricio O'Ward ended up 23rd after not advancing from round one. This is O'Ward's worst starting position since he was 25th at Mid-Ohio in 2023. The Mexican has finished on the podium the last two years at St. Petersburg. On four occasions has a driver had at least three consecutive podium results in this race. Tony Kanaan had four consecutive from 2005 to 2008. Hélio Castroneves did it twice from 2006 to 2008 and from 2012 to 2014. Josef Newgarden is the most recent driver to do it, from 2020 to 2022.

Christian Rasmussen finds himself starting 24th for the first race of the season. This is the fourth consecutive race Rasmussen will be starting outside the top twenty. The Dane started outside the top twenty in seven of 14 starts last year. In three of four street races last season, Rasmussen finished 27th. St. Petersburg was the exception, where he finished 19th. 

Jacob Abel makes his IndyCar debut from 25th starting spot. Abel will become the first driver alphabetically by last name to start an IndyCar race. Abel will also be the first Kentucky-born driver to start an IndyCar race since Scott Harrington at Michigan on July 28, 2002. Harrington started 25th in that race and finished 21st.

Sting Ray Robb's first race for Juncos Hollinger Racing will start from 26th on the grid. This is the 33rd time in 35 starts Robb is starting outside the top twenty. In nine career street course starts, Robb's average finish is 20th with his best finish being 16th in his first career street race, which was his IndyCar debut at St. Petersburg in 2023. 

Callum Ilott has the second Prema car starting in 27th. This matches Ilott's worst starting position. He started 27th in the 2023 Indianapolis 500 and finished 12th. Dating back to 2023, Ilott has finished in the top fifteen in his last four starts. Only once has Ilott had five consecutive races with top fifteen results. 

Fox's coverage of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg begins at noon E.T. with green flag scheduled for 12:29 p.m. The race is scheduled for 100 laps.