By: Spencer Neff
March 9, 2024

Practice 2 Results Combined Practice Results Qualifying Groups

After their technical alliance member in Meyer Shank Racing led opening practice for this weekend’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Friday afternoon, Andretti Global itself was atop the chart for the second practice on Saturday morning in their Honda-powered entry.

Colton Herta, the 2021 pole and race winner, turned in a best lap of 1m00.1331 (107.761 mph) on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary Florida street circuit and was .2541 of a second clear of the field. Herta was the only driver to eclipse yesterday’s fastest lap but 24 drivers notched a better lap this morning than in yesterday’s 75-minute session.

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, the 2019 and 2020 winner of this race, was second, fastest among the Chevrolet portion of the grid.

Following Newgarden was teammate Will Power, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward and Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Romain Grosjean, last year’s pole winner. Despite missing out on P1, Chevrolet grabbed the next four spots and six of the first 10 spots on the practice sheet.

After leading practice yesterday, Felix Rosenqvist finished 11th. Other notables included defending race winner Marcus Ericsson in 14th and Linus Lundqvist in 16th, best among the five rookies in the 27-car field.

Following three red flags during yesterday’s reformatted practice, Saturday’s 45-minute session was completed without any stoppages. Two drivers ran into mechanical issues along the way.

A.J. Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci was unable to complete a lap following issues on his No. 14 entry, while Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood suffered rear suspension damage following contact in Turn 2.

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

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