IndyCar News: Rosenqvist tops Friday practice in St. Petersburg

Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist turned the fastest lap in opening Friday practice for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Rosenqvist’s lap of 1m00.3390s lap was almost 1/2-sec. faster than Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, his teammate from last year.

Marcus Armstrong, driver of the Chip Ganassi Racing No 11 Ridgeline Lubricants, was third on the timing charts with a lap of 1:00.8182.

Team Penske’s Will Power was fourth on the charts with a lap of 1:00.8409.  Power has earned the pole nine times at this event.

Rounding out the top five was Ed Carpenter’s Rinus VeeKay in the No 21 with a lap of 1:00.8409.

Rosenqvist in his maiden drive for Meyer Shank Racing, was pleased with his progress.

When asked about his run this afternoon, the Swede answered, “So, yeah, a little bit relieved actually and a little bit surprised as well. I thought we were going to be good, but not as quick straight away, but obviously I think it’s still early days, and everyone is going to improve a lot. We’re going to try to see if we can keep that gap ahead. Yeah, so far so good. Really happy. ”

“I think on the street tracks we’re good.  I feel more confident about this race and those kind of tracks. I think ovals are probably a question mark for us that we’re trying to work a lot with Andretti to improve. ”

Will Power, the pole master here in St Petersburg, was not surprised by Rosenqvist’s run.  “Felix is on another planet out there, but everyone else is extremely close. ”

IndyCar made a change for practice sessions on a road course to prevent the teams from not running during a practice session due to the tire limits.  The first 20 minutes all cars are allowed to practice.  The cars then are split into two groups based on odd and even pit positions.  With a five minute break between the next two session, each of the groups get another 10 minutes to practice.   This gives the drivers more room on the track with less cars.

When Power was asked how he felt about the new practice session, he answered, “I felt like overall the session was pretty good. I don’t mind that. There’s more room on track and less backing up.”

“It’s a very similar flow to qualifying. You get the ten minutes, so you have to get a run done. Yeah, I didn’t mind it. It’s been very difficult in the past just to get a lap, and each time you went out, you got clear runs. For me, I liked the format.”

Friday Practice Results