By: Spencer Neff
March 8, 2024
Five years after making his NTT INDYCAR SERIES debut, Felix Rosenqvist begins the new year at Meyer Shank Racing, his third INDYCAR team. On Friday afternoon, the Varnamo, Sweden native began the 2024 season atop the charts.
Driving the No. 60, Rosenqvist turned in a best lap of 1m00.3309 (107.393 mph) on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit in Florida. After the proverbial scales tipped back in forth among the Honda and Chevrolet entrants, it was the Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of last year’s runner-up Pato O’Ward in second.
O’Ward finished .4722 of a second back of his former teammate’s best lap. 2023 Rookie of the Year Marcus Armstrong was third, best among the five-car Chip Ganassi organization, with two-time St, Pete winner Will Power of Team Penske in fourth and Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay in fifth.
After moving over to Juncos Hollinger Racing, last year’s pole winner Romain Grosjean was seventh.
Defending NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou was ninth and last year’s St. Petersburg winner Marcus Ericsson was 17th in his Andretti Global debut.
Linus Lundqvist, who takes over the No.8 Chip Ganassi Racing entry, was fastest among the five rookies in the field.
The 75-minute session was broken up into a new format. As part of a trial run, all 27 cars were allowed on track for the opening segments. the remaining 55 minutes were split between even- and odd-numbered pits for alternating 10-minute sessions.
Just over three minutes into Group 1’s first session, Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Kyffin Simpson stalled in the run-off area outside Turn 10.
A few minutes later, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Pietro Fittipaldi suffered the same fate. Fittipaldi is making his debut at the St. Petersburg circuit and begins his first full-time INDYCAR season.
With the session drawing to a close, A.J. Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci would make it three stalled cars in Turn 10, the only red flags during the afternoon.
Up Next
Below is the on-track schedule for the remaining two days of the weekend in St. Petersburg. IndyCar1909 will have coverage and social media updates throughout this weekend. Turn 4 Podcast Host Dan Maldonado is on-site at the track this weekend as well.
At-track schedule (All Times Local/Eastern Time):
Saturday, March 9
8:25-9:10 a.m. – INDY NXT by Firestone practice, INDYCAR LIVE
9:35-10:35 a.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice (Limited guarantee of 45 minutes of greenflag time), Peacock
1:05-1:35 p.m. – INDY NXT by Firestone qualifying (Two groups, 12-minute session with greenflag of one timed lap), INDYCAR LIVE
2-3:30 p.m. – Qualifying for the NTT P1 Award (three rounds of knockout qualifying), Peacock
Sunday, March 10
9:10-9:40 a.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES warmup, Peacock
10:10 a.m. – INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (45 laps / 81 miles / 55minutes), Peacock (Live)
Noon – NBC Sports on air
12:23 p.m. – “Drivers, start your engines”
12:30 p.m. – Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding (100 laps / 181miles), NBC, Universo and Peacock (Live)
Header Image By Joe Skibinski/INDYCAR
IndyCar1909.com 