Written by Morgan Holiday
After a long off-season, IndyCar is back on track for Qualifying at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Group 1
Team Penske's Will Power was one of 13 drivers taking part in the first group of Qualifying (along with both of his teammates). He came into the session on the back foot following an incident during Practice 2 earlier in the day that resulted in the team swapping out the hybrid unit in his car.
That didn't stop Power from being one of the first drivers to take and hold the top spot on the timing sheets, setting a 1:00.375 before getting displaced by Arrow McLaren's Nolan Siegal (also on track with both of his teammates).
Kyffin Simpson and Christian Lundgaard were the next drivers to take first and second overall, both setting times in the 1:00.2s range before Simpson improved to set a lap time of 1:00.104 in the No.8 Chip Ganassi Racing car.
With three minutes to go, Josef Newgarden (the first driver and only driver so far to set a lap time less than one minute), Simpson, Scott McLaughlin, Lundgaard, Siegal, and Power were set to advance, with Graham Rahal and Colton Herta the drivers on the cusp of getting through to the next stage.
As the clocked ticked down a flurry of improvements saw Siegal, then Herta and then finally McLaughlin take the top spot. Newgarden, Lundgaard, and Rinus VeeKay also made it through to the Fast 12.
Falling short were Power and Simpson, followed by A.J. Foyt Racing teammates David Malukas and Santino Ferucci. Graham Rahal was also eliminated, and behind him Pato O'Ward was the only McLaren driver not to make it through. In last place was the only rookie taking part in Group 1, Dale Coyne Racing's Jacob Abel.
Group 2
Chip Ganassi's Scott Dixon was the early leader in Group 2, before rookie Robert Shwartzman went faster .
The rookies continued to shine early on in the session as Louis Foster set a lap time of 1:00.456 to beat Shwartzman's time.
Halfway through the ten minute session, Rahal Letterman Lanigan's Devlin Defrancesco led Foster, Alex Palou, Alex Rossi, Marcus Ericsson and Kyle Kirkwood as the top six of 14 total drivers.
Now out on the softer tyre compound, Dixon went to the top with a 59.840 lap time. Meanwhile, a strategy disaster struck for Rossi, who had a wiggle going into Turn 1 and as a result didn't have enough fuel for a full run and had to return to the pits knowing that mistake may have cost him a chance to advance.
Predictably his final lap was not enough for an improvement, and he finished the session in 10th behind Defrancesco, Foster and Shwartzman. Behind him were the rest of the eliminated drivers, Conor Daly, Christian Rasmussen, Sting Ray Robb, and Callum Ilott.
Palou was the driver to come out on top in Group 2, taking the top spot over Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist. Ericsson, Marcus Armstrong and Kirkwood completed the top six and were the final drivers to secure a spot in the Fast 12.
Fast 12
The top six drivers from each session took the track to find out who would be in the final fight for pole position.
Andretti teammates Herta and Ericsson took the lead early on in the session before Siegal split the two, all three with lap times in the 1:01s range. Kirkwood, who topped the first practice session of the weekend, then came up to second place, though no one could displace Herta in the first few minutes of the session.
Herta kept the lead as the clock ticked down, as VeeKay came out on track to set his first push lap over halfway through the session. The Andretti driver's reign finally came to an end as McLaren drivers Lundgaard and Siegal took the top two slots with two minutes to go.
Improvements in the final moments pushed Herta all the way down to ninth before he improved back to first overall with a time of 59.545. VeeKay finally set a fast lap, though it was only good enough for 10th.
Dixon went fourth fastest overall before a brush with the wall where he just avoided major incident. Lundgaard improved to second place, with Armstrong behind him. Dixon, Rosenqvist and McLaughlin (the only Team Penske driver to make it through) completed the top six and would be the last drivers standing.
Eliminated this session were Ericsson, Palou, Kirkwood, Newgarden, Siegal, and VeeKay, who will start seventh through 12th respectively in tomorrow's race.
Fast Six
The top six drivers of the day had six minutes to battle it out for pole for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Two minutes in, Lundgaard, the sole McLaren driver to get into the Fast Six, was on top with a lap time of 1:00.275, almost two tenths ahead of McLaughlin in second. Dixon was third ahead of Herta, Armstrong and Rosenqvist.
Lundgaard then improved by over four tenths to create an even bigger gap to McLaughlin. Then Rosenqvist jumped from sixth to first as he set a 59.699, and behind him his Meyer Shank Racing teammate Armstrong went second.
At the chequered flag Herta went fastest overall, though there were plenty of drivers behind him still with laps to finish. And it wasn't enough for Herta, as McLaughlin stole pole position by less than two tenths.
Herta stayed in second while Rosenqvist ended the session in third ahead of Armstrong, the pair taking a strong result for MSR in the first Qualifying of the season. Lundgaard qualified fifth, and it was Dixon who took the final spot in the top six.
McLaughlin took his 11th career pole for the first IndyCar race of the 2025 season. The green flag for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is Sunday at 12:30pm EST.
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