Written by Dan Jones
After a nail-biting season opener kicked off IndyCar's 2025 in the sunshine of the Floridian coast on the Streets of St. Petersburg, the series now heads to the Californian desert, to The Thermal Club, an exclusive resort for the ultra-wealthy motorsports enthusiasts, as the circuit hosts it's first points-paying IndyCar event, which marks Round 2 of 17 in the 2025 season.
What happened in St. Petersburg?
It may have been a new season when the series kicked off 2025 on the Streets of St. Petersburg, but it was exactly the same Álex Palou, who aced the strategy once again and found himself in victory lane for the 13th time in his IndyCar career.
He was hounded down by Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon, the latter could have well won the race if not for a radio issue which stopped any communication with his No.10 stand, forcing him to box a lap later than Palou and see victory fall out his grasp. However, Palou fended both off superbly and starts 2025 exactly where we've been so accustomed to seeing him in recent years, top of the IndyCar standings.
Scott McLaughlin took the pole and finished a frustrating fourth after cautions did not fall his way from a strategy standpoint, ahead of Kyle Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson. Colton Herta, the 2024 vice-champion, had a difficult day after a fuel issue meant he slumbered to 16th, whilst Will Power was involved in an opening lap crash with Nolan Siegel and Louis Foster meaning he left St. Petersburg with the minimum points.
You can read the full race report here and listen to the DIVEBOMB IndyCar Podcast's race review here.
As it was the opening round, the points standings are those of the finishing order in St. Petersburg, but here's the top ten.
Palou - 51
Dixon - 41
Newgarden - 36
McLaughlin - 36
Kirkwood - 30
Ericsson - 28
Rosenqvist - 26
Lundgaard - 25
VeeKay - 22
Rossi - 20
What is The Thermal Club?
The series now heads west to The Thermal Club, an exclusive racing resort for the wealthy, who have to purchase a trackside villa for access to the circuit. Monthly membership is upward of $2,500 and the entry fee lies at $175,000. IndyCar markets the circuit as: 'A private, world-class facility featuring an expansive 490-acre property known as the ultimate destination for driving-minded celebrities, corporate executives and motorsports enthusiasts.'
Although it's IndyCar's first points-paying race at the circuit, the series hosted a full-field test pre-season in 2023, before a controversial non-championship race last season which was slotted in a six week break in the calendar. The non-championship format was made-for-TV, however a combination of high degradation on the tyres, and a format which wasn't adaptable enough to the unexpected circumstances meant cars were going as slowly as possible for period of the race and left quite an embarrassment to the series. I won't open the same can of worms, but you can get my thoughts on last year's event here.
IndyCar utilises the 'Twin Palm Circuit' layout at the Thermal Club, a 2.700 mile (4.345km) circuit with 19 corners, in which drivers will race 65 laps on during Sunday's Grand Prix.
The 'South Palm Circuit,' which is Turns 1-8 on the 'Twin Palm Circuit,' is the slower and tighter complex of the circuit, however boasts the best overtaking opportunities into the double-apexed right hander at Turn 1, and the higher-speed left-hander at Turn 7 which comes after the longest straight on the circuit,
The 'North Palm Circuit,' is a faster, more flowy section of the circuit, with a particularly entertaining long right-left hander between Turns 8 and 11 before an esses section between Turns 13 and 18. The final overtaking opportunity will come at the right-hander at Turn 17 after the backstretch.
Can we take anything from the $1 Million Challenge?
As I mentioned earlier, the attempted non-championship race here last year did not prove particularly popular with either drivers or fans. Many drivers suggested that if Thermal was to return to the calendar, it should in a championship format, such as Alexander Rossi as he noted to DIVEBOMB:
"There's no reason why it shouldn't be [not on the calendar]. I was one of the proponents last year to make it a championship race. I would say it makes way more sense for it to be a real race versus what we did last year. It's obviously more open to the fans this year, as well. I think that was one of the big hurdles to overcome in terms of having an IndyCar event. I think it has every aspect that a track would need to have to be a proper event on calendar. I'm looking forward to seeing the kind of show and racing it can produce."
The tyres are a different compound to what they were last year, as Firestone continue to try and build a larger gap between the primary and the alternate tyre. Drivers will have six sets of primary, and four alternate, whilst rookie drivers continue to receive an additional set of primary tyres. That means not much tyre information can be related from last year, where the tyres were infamously degrading extremely quickly, which places further importance on practice to understand tyre behaviour.
The teams won't be guessing in terms of setup, as that information could correlate from last year, however, as the event had two 'heat' races, which split the field in half, this year will mark the first time with 27 cars competitively on-track together. Heat 1 saw a major opening corner pile-up last year - and that was with only half the cars racing!
Overtaking did prove particularly difficult here last year. The concern will be if the additional weight of the hybrid will make that even more difficult in 2025. There will be double the cars, so let's hope, double the action. However, St. Petersburg's overtaking figures were significantly down on 2024, when the series did not have the hybrid in place.
Who should we look out for this weekend?
Chip Ganassi Racing have won the last two events on new road/street circuits, with Marcus Ericsson winning on the Streets of Nashville in 2021 and Álex Palou on the Streets of Detroit in 2023. Palou also won the $1 Million Challenge here last season, with Ganassi also having cars finish 5th and 6th with Marcus Armstrong and Linus Lundqvist. Scott McLaughlin finished second in the $1 Million Challenge, with Felix Rosenqvist in third and Colton Herta in fourth.
The Thermal most represents Barber Motorsports Park and Road America on tracks from the current calendar, two circuits that Palou has run very well at in his IndyCar career. He was dominant here last season, and with the form that he finds himself in, it's already hard to bet against the Spaniard becoming the first driver since 2020 to win the opening two races of a season.
This poses a big weekend for Will Power. Team Penske are known to get their contracts done earlier on in the year, and after an unfortunate St. Petersburg weekend, every weekend becomes that more important for Power, with suggestions that David Malukas could take his seat at Team Penske for 2026.
This is also a weekend where Colton Herta needs to bounce back. Herta said pre-race in St. Petersburg: "When you look at the championship, you can't really have that many bad races. Maybe one. If you kind of blow it here, you're putting yourself in a hole for the rest of the year." Herta has already used that joker card as such at St. Petersburg, and needs to have a strong weekend if he would like to bounce back.
Pato O'Ward was also one that suffered at St. Petersburg after a dismal qualifying effort, however recovered to 11th despite an early race puncture. St. Petersburg is a track O'Ward had gone well at, so a difficult result really puts the Mexican under pressure to deliver at The Thermal Club.
I'd also keep an eye out on the Meyer Shank Racing cars here too. Ganassi, and MSR, were strong here last year, and with the teams now having an alliance, that information will be shared. Both Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Armstrong qualified in the Fast 6 in St. Petersburg, and finished 3rd and 5th respectively in the $1 Million Challenge.
FOX Sports had a good start to IndyCar life, attracting 1.4 million viewers in it's debut broadcast at St. Petersburg. However, Thermal will be essential for viewership figures, to see if that viewership has been maintained. The race also has a direct clash with NASCAR's race at Homestead-Miami, also broadcasted by FOX.
Timings:
Practice 1: 18:35 ET, 15:35 Local Friday
Practice 2: 13:00 ET, 10:00 Local Saturday
Qualifying: 18:35 ET, 15:35 Local Saturday
Warm-up: 11:02 ET, 08:02 Local Sunday
Race: 15:17 ET, 12:17 Local Sunday
DIVEBOMB will bring you all the latest news and updates throughout the weekend as well as post-race action and analysis. It may be early doors, but the championship will heat up under the Californian sun. With Thermal looking unlikely to return in 2026, it could be a one-and-done, so who will take potentially the only points-paying Thermal Club honours?
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