Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

IndyCar Series
Location	St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S.
Corporate sponsor	Firestone
First race	1985
First ICS race	2005
Distance	1.800 mi (2.897 km)
Laps	100
Duration	180.00 mi (289.68 km)
Previous names	St. Petersburg Grand Prix (1985–1990) Kash n' Karry Florida Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (1996–1997) Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (2005–2013) Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (2014–present)
Most wins (driver)	Hélio Castroneves (3)
Most wins (team)	Team Penske (11)
Most wins (manufacturer)	Chassis: Dallara (15) Engine: Honda (9)
Circuit information
Surface	Asphalt/Concrete
Length	2.910 km (1.808 mi)
Turns	14

The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is an IndyCar Series race held in St. Petersburg, Florida. In most years since 2009, the race has served as the season opener (or at minimum, the first race held on U.S. soil). ^[1] The race is held annually in the spring, with the exception of 2020, when it was postponed until October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The race takes place on the streets of St. Petersburg, utilizing downtown streets, and one runway of Albert Whitted Airport. The event dates back to 1985, with Indy cars first competing in 2003.

History

The inaugural 1985 event was organized by William T. McVey, president of the McBri Corporation in Tampa and a member of IMSA and the SCCA. ^[2] The SCCA Trans-Am Series held a race on a St. Petersburg downtown waterfront circuit from 1985 to 1990. Can-Am also competed in 1985. Local residents and businesses complained about noise, and the event was eventually put on hiatus. ^[3] Driver Jim Fitzgerald was killed in a crash during the 1987 race. ^{[4] [5]}

From 1996 to 1997, the St. Petersburg race was revived on a different course around Tropicana Field (about one mile west of the original waterfront course). Along with the Trans-Am Series, support races included U.S. FF2000, World Challenge, Pro SRF and Barber Dodge. The event subsequently went again on hiatus for several years. ^[3]

In 2003, the event was revived again for the CART Championship Series. A new, modified version of the original 1985 waterfront circuit was created. For 2004, the event was cancelled due to a dispute between the promoters, furthermore, the bankruptcy and liquidation of the CART series into the new Champ Car World Series saw a shakeup of the calendar. When the race returned in 2005, it switched to the IndyCar Series, marking the first non-oval event for the Indy Racing League. In 2007, the race weekend was expanded to include an American Le Mans Series event.

Andretti Green Promotions would later take over promotion of the event. ^[6] Starting in 2014, Firestone took over as title sponsor. ^[7]

Past winners

Season	Date	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine/Aero Kit	Tires	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)	Report
							Laps	Miles (km)
CART Championship Series history
2003	February 23	Paul Tracy	Forsythe Racing	Lola B02/00	Ford – Cosworth XFE	Bridgestone	105	189.630 (305.130)	2:04:28	91.401	Report
2004	Not held
IndyCar Series history
2005	April 3	Dan Wheldon	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda	Firestone	100	180 (289.681)	2:09:54	83.14	Report
2006	April 2	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	Firestone	100	180 (289.681)	1:56:58	92.34	Report
2007	April 1	Hélio Castroneves (2)	Team Penske (2)	Dallara	Honda	Firestone	100	180 (289.681)	2:01:07	89.166	Report
2008	April 6	Graham Rahal	Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing	Dallara	Honda	Firestone	83*	149.4 (240.435)	2:00:44	74.251	Report
2009	April 5	Ryan Briscoe	Team Penske (3)	Dallara	Honda	Firestone	100	180 (289.681)	2:12:27	81.542	Report
2010	March 29*	Will Power	Team Penske (4)	Dallara	Honda	Firestone	100	180 (289.681)	2:07:06	84.975	Report
2011	March 27	Dario Franchitti	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	Firestone	100	180 (289.681)	2:01:00	89.26	Report
2012	March 25	Hélio Castroneves (3)	Team Penske (5)	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet/UAK-12	Firestone	100	180 (289.681)	1:59:51	90.113	Report
2013	March 24	James Hinchcliffe	Andretti Autosport (2)	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet/UAK-12	Firestone	110	200 (320.1)	2:22:13	83.539	Report
2014	March 30	Will Power (2)	Team Penske (6)	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet/UAK-12	Firestone	110	200 (320.1)	2:06:58	93.572	Report
2015	March 29	Juan Pablo Montoya	Team Penske (7)	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet/CAK-15	Firestone	110	200 (320.1)	2:16:58	86.735	Report
2016	March 13	Juan Pablo Montoya (2)	Team Penske (8)	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet/CAK-16	Firestone	110	200 (320.1)	2:13:28	89.006	Report
2017	March 12	Sébastien Bourdais	Dale Coyne Racing	Dallara DW12	Honda/HAK-16	Firestone	110	200 (320.1)	2:04:32	95.391	Report
2018	March 11	Sébastien Bourdais (2)	Dale Coyne Racing (2)	Dallara DW12	Honda/UAK-18	Firestone	110	200 (320.1)	2:17:48	86.207	Report
2019	March 10	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske (9)	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet/UAK-18	Firestone	110	200 (320.1)	2:04:18	95.572	Report
2020	October 25	Josef Newgarden (2)	Team Penske (10)	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet/UAK-18	Firestone	100	180 (289.681)	2:06:12	85.872	Report
2021	April 25	Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport (3)	Dallara DW12	Honda/UAK-18 (10)	Firestone	100	180 (289.681)	1:51:51	96.552	Report
2022	February 27	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske (11)	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet/UAK-18	Firestone	100	180 (289.681)	1:51:27	96.899	Report
2023	March 5	Marcus Ericsson	Chip Ganassi Racing (2)	Dallara DW12	Honda/UAK-18	Firestone	100	180 (289.681)	2:05:30	86.047	Report
2024	March 10	Pato O'Ward	Arrow McLaren (1)	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet/UAK-18	Firestone	100	180 (289.681)	1:51:29	96.867	Report
2025	March 2	Álex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing (3)	Dallara DW12	Honda/UAK-18	Firestone	100	180 (289.681)	1:51:08	97.173	Report

• 2008: Race shortened as a result of inclement weather at the start forcing the race to start on Lap 10 after nine Safety Car laps. Shortened by ESPN under time limit.
• 2010: Race postponed from March 28 due to inclement weather. ^[8]
• 2020: Race postponed from March 15 to October 25.
• 2021: Race postponed from March 7 to April 25 as part of a series of rescheduling with Barber and Long Beach.
• UAK = Universal Aero Kit
• CAK = Chevrolet Aero Kit
• HAK = Honda Aero Kit

Support series past winners

Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tire

Indy Lights Season Date Winning Driver Chassis Engine 2005 April 3 Marco Andretti Dallara Infiniti 2006 April 1 Raphael Matos Dallara Infiniti April 2 Raphael Matos Dallara Infiniti 2007 March 31 Alex Lloyd Dallara Infiniti April 1 Alex Lloyd Dallara Infiniti 2008 April 5 Raphael Matos Dallara Infiniti April 6 Richard Antinucci Dallara Infiniti 2009 April 4 Junior Strous Dallara Infiniti April 5 Junior Strous Dallara Infiniti 2010 March 28 Jean Karl Vernay Dallara Infiniti 2011 March 27 Josef Newgarden Dallara Honda 2012 March 24 Tristan Vautier Dallara Honda 2013 March 23 Jack Hawksworth Dallara Honda 2014 March 30 Zach Veach Dallara Honda 2015 March 28 Ed Jones Dallara Mazda March 29 Ed Jones Dallara Mazda 2016 March 12 Felix Serralles Dallara Mazda March 13 Felix Rosenqvist Dallara Mazda 2017 March 11 Aaron Telitz Dallara Mazda March 12 Colton Herta Dallara Mazda 2018 March 10 Patricio O'Ward Dallara Mazda March 11 Santiago Urrutia Dallara Mazda 2019 March 9 Zachary Claman Dallara AER March 10 Rinus Veekay Dallara AER 2020 Season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021 April 24 Kyle Kirkwood Dallara AER April 25 David Malukas Dallara AER 2022 February 27 Matthew Brabham Dallara AER Indy NXT 2023 March 5 Danial Frost Dallara AER 2024 March 10 Nolan Siegel Dallara AER 2025 March 2 Dennis Hauger Dallara AER

Star Mazda Championship Season Date Winning Driver 2010 March 28 Conor Daly 2011 March 26 Connor De Phillippi 2012 March 24 Connor De Phillippi March 25 Jack Hawksworth Pro Mazda Championship 2013 March 23 Diego Ferreira March 24 Matthew Brabham 2014 March 29 Spencer Pigot March 30 Spencer Pigot 2015 March 28 Neil Alberico March 29 Neil Alberico 2016 March 12 Patricio O'Ward March 13 Aaron Telitz 2017 March 11 Anthony Martin March 12 Anthony Martin 2018 March 10 Rinus VeeKay March 11 Rinus VeeKay Indy Pro 2000 Championship 2019 March 9 Parker Thompson March 10 Parker Thompson 2020 October 24 Sting Ray Robb October 25 Hunter McElrea 2021 April 24 Braden Eves April 25 Christian Rasmussen 2022 February 25 Josh Green February 26 Nolan Siegel USF Pro 2000 Championship 2023 March 4 Christian Brooks March 5 Myles Rowe 2024 March 9 Lochie Hughes March 10 Nikita Johnson 2025 March 1 Alessandro de Tullio March 2 Max Garcia

U.S. F2000 National Championship Season Date Winning Driver 2010 March 27 Sage Karam March 28 Sage Karam 2011 March 26 Spencer Pigot March 27 Petri Suvanto 2012 March 24 Spencer Pigot March 25 Spencer Pigot 2013 March 23 Scott Hargrove March 24 Scott Hargrove 2014 March 29 Victor Franzoni March 30 R. C. Enerson 2015 March 28 Jake Eidson March 29 Jake Eidson 2016 March 12 Jordan Lloyd Jordan Lloyd 2017 March 11 Robert Megennis March 12 Oliver Askew 2018 March 10 Kyle Kirkwood March 11 Alexandre Baron 2019 March 9 Braden Eves March 10 Braden Eves 2020 October 24 Kiko Porto October 25 Christian Brooks 2021 April 24 Christian Brooks Christian Brooks 2022 February 25 Jace Denmark February 27 Myles Rowe 2023 March 4 Lochie Hughes March 5 Nikita Johnson 2024 March 8 Max Garcia March 9 Max Garcia 2025 February 28 Liam McNeilly March 1 Liam McNeilly

Stefan Wilson driving along the Bay Shore Drive Southeast section during the qualifying race of the Indy Lights 2011.

Atlantic Championship Series

Season	Date	Winning Driver
1985	November 3	Riley Hopkins
1986	November 16	Scott Goodyear
1987	November 7	Johnny O'Connell
1988	October 23	Jocko Cunningham
1989	October 29	Jocko Cunningham
1990	November 4	Brian Till
Source: [9]

American Le Mans Series

Overall winner in bold.

Season	LMP1 Winning Team	LMP2 Winning Team	GT1 Winning Team	GT2 Winning Team	Report
	LMP1 Winning Drivers	LMP2 Winning Drivers	GT1 Winning Drivers	GT2 Winning Drivers
2007	#1 Audi Sport North America	#6 Penske Racing	#4 Corvette Racing	#62 Risi Competizione	report
	Rinaldo Capello Allan McNish	Sascha Maassen Ryan Briscoe	Oliver Gavin Olivier Beretta	Mika Salo Jaime Melo
2008	#2 Audi Sport North America	#7 Penske Racing	#4 Corvette Racing	#71 Tafel Racing	report
	Marco Werner Lucas Luhr	Timo Bernhard Romain Dumas	Olivier Beretta Oliver Gavin	Dominik Farnbacher Dirk Müller
2009	#9 Patrón Highcroft Racing	#15 Lowe's Fernández Racing	No entry	#45 Flying Lizard Motorsports	report
	David Brabham Scott Sharp	Adrian Fernández Luis Díaz	No entry	Patrick Long Jörg Bergmeister

Stadium Super Trucks

Year	Date	Driver	Ref
2014	March 29	Robby Gordon	[10]
	March 30	P. J. Jones
2015	March 28	Sheldon Creed	[11]
	March 29	Burt Jenner
2016	March 12	Sheldon Creed	[12]
	March 13	Keegan Kincaid
2017	March 11	Robby Gordon	[13]
	March 12	Matthew Brabham	[14]
2021	April 24	Sheldon Creed	[15]
	April 25	Sheldon Creed	[16]

SCCA Trans-Am

The Dan Wheldon Memorial plaque located next to the Salvador Dali Museum, which also contains the list of winners of the race.

Season	Date	Driver	Team	Car	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed	Report
					Laps	Miles (km)
1985	November 3	Willy T. Ribbs	Roush Racing	Mercury Capri	50	100 (160.934)	01:15:05	79.910 mph (128.603 km/h)	Report
1986	November 15	Pete Halsmer	Roush Racing	Mercury Merkur XR4Ti	50	100 (160.934)	01:15:09	79.838 mph (128.487 km/h)	Report
1987	November 15	Pete Halsmer	Roush Racing	Mercury Merkur XR4Ti	50	100 (160.934)	02:06:24	47.462 mph (76.383 km/h)	Report
1988	October 23	Walter Röhrl	Audi of America	Audi 200 Quattro	63	125.999 (202.777)	01:38:09	77.0207 mph (123.9528 km/h)	Report
1989	October 29	Irv Hoerr		Oldsmobile Cutlass	63	125.999 (202.777)	01:42:55	73.459 mph (118.221 km/h)	Report
1990	November 4	Chris Kneifel		Chevrolet Beretta	63	125.999 (202.777)	01:47:11	70.535 mph (113.515 km/h)	Report
1991–1995, Not held
1996	February 25	Ron Fellows		Chevrolet Camaro	63	106.470 (171.346)	01:18:13	70.535 mph (113.515 km/h)	Report
1997	February 25	Tommy Kendall		Ford Mustang	60	101.400 (163.187)	01:14:44	81.405 mph (131.009 km/h)	Report
1998–2002, Not held
2003	February 23	Scott Pruett		Jaguar XKR	55	99.330 (159.856)	01:16:06	81.405 mph (131.009 km/h)	Report

Can-Am

• 1985 Lou Sell

SCCA Super Vee

• 1986 Didier Theys
• 1987 Dave Kudrave
• 1988 Bernard Jourdain
• 1989 Stuart Crow
• 1990 Chris Smith

Race summaries

CART Series

• 2003: The St. Petersburg Grand Prix was revived with the CART World series. Sébastien Bourdais won the pole and led the first 30 laps. After the first sequence of pit stops, Paul Tracy emerged as the leader. Bourdais tagged the wall on lap 42, which dropped him several laps down. That left Tracy out in front, and he cruised to victory. Tracy led the final 71 laps, and finished over 12 seconds ahead of second place Michel Jourdain Jr.

IndyCar Series

• 2005: The first ever road course race for the Indy Racing League saw Andretti Green Racing win the pole and sweep the top four positions. Dan Wheldon finished first, with Tony Kanaan second.
• 2006: Dario Franchitti won the pole, but was knocked out early due to mechanical failure. The race finished under the yellow flag after Tomas Scheckter and Buddy Rice hit the barrier with 4 laps to go. Roberto Moreno replaced Ed Carpenter for this race as Ed recovered from his injury's but finished 18th due to steering issues. Hélio Castroneves was the winner.
• 2007: Pole winner Hélio Castroneves led 95 of the 100 laps, holding off Scott Dixon for the win by 0.6007 seconds, the closest finish on a road circuit in IRL history at the time. On the first lap, five cars were involved in a spin, including Tony Kanaan. In practice, Kanaan had crashed his qualified car, but the team made repairs so he could start in the 6th position rather than using a backup. The spin dropped him to the rear of the field. After a series of pit stops under yellow, Dan Wheldon took the lead. On a lap 35 restart, Castroneves bumped Wheldon from behind, and slipped by to take the lead for good. In the best run by a Foyt team in a few seasons, Darren Manning ran as high as third until a late spin dropped him to 13th. After the first lap spin, Tony Kanaan recovered to finish third.
• 2008: Heavy rain in the morning soaked the track, and left considerable standing water. The race was started under 10 laps of caution as the track dried. At the start, Tony Kanaan assumed the lead, but soon was passed by Justin Wilson. The early part of the race saw several spins by several cars, including Danica Patrick, Marco Andretti and Mario Moraes. On the 37th lap after a restart, rookie Graham Rahal was hit from behind by Will Power while running 3rd. He was able to continue. Several cautions slowed the race, including a crash by Ryan Briscoe, and a multi-car incident involving Vítor Meira, Franck Perera, and Townsend Bell. On the restart that followed, Rahal-Letterman Racing driver Ryan Hunter-Reay led Graham Rahal. Rahal got the jump and took the lead into the first turn. With time running out before the two-hour time limit, the race was poised to end before the scheduled distance. On the final restart, just under 4 minutes of racing remained. Rahal held off a charging Hélio Castroneves and won his first race. At 19 years, 93 days old, Rahal became the youngest driver ever to win an Indy-style race, as well as the youngest winner in IndyCar Series history. ^[17] He broke Marco Andretti's record from 2006. ^[17] He also became the fourth driver to win an IndyCar Series race in his first start, joining Buzz Calkins, Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Dixon. ^[17]
• 2009: On the opening lap, polesitter Graham Rahal was involved in light contact with Tony Kanaan, which damaged his nosecone, and dropped him deep in the field. With 20 laps to go, defending IndyCar champion Scott Dixon crashed out after contact with Hideki Mutoh. With 14 laps to go, Ryan Briscoe took the lead from Justin Wilson on a restart. Briscoe held off Ryan Hunter-Reay to secure the victory.
• 2011: The first race featuring the new double-file restarts takes a toll on the field as drivers adjust. On the first lap, a big collision involving several cars saw Marco Andretti flip over in turn 1, a crash he blamed on Hélio Castroneves. ^[18] Several other drivers experienced contact on restarts, thinning the field. Dario Franchitti stayed in front for most of the race and won the season opener. Simona de Silvestro garnered the most attention of the later stages of the race, as she hotly challenged Tony Kanaan. Kanaan, who had landed his ride with KV Racing just days earlier, held her off over the final few laps for a surprising third-place finish.
• 2012: Hélio Castroneves won the season-opening event, ^{[19] [20]} snapping a winless streak that dates back to Motegi in 2010. It was the first race for the new Dallara DW-12 chassis, and the new turbocharged engine package. Castroneves' victory marked the first win by Chevrolet in the IndyCar Series since 2005. It also marked the first race since the fatal accident of Dan Wheldon. Will Power had the lead from the pole position at the start, but during the first yellow, he ducked into the pits in order to gamble on a fuel strategy. The strategy backfired, and Power was not a factor during the remainder of the race. During the final sequence of pit stops, Castroneves and Scott Dixon were running 1st–2nd. Dixon pitted first on lap 72, and Castroneves pitted on lap later. As the rest of the leaders shuffled through their final pits stops, Castroneves made a bold pass of Dixon on the outside of turn 1 for second place. After the sequence of pit stops was over, Castroneves led the final 26 laps to claim the victory. On his victory lap, Castroneves stopped in turn 10, climbed from his car, and performed his customary "Spider-Man" celebration, climbing the catch fence. He climbed the fence which displayed the street sign "Dan Wheldon Way," which had been designated days earlier by the city of St. Petersburg in the memory of Wheldon. ^[21]
• 2013: James Hinchcliffe won the first IndyCar race of his career, taking the lead from Hélio Castroneves on a restart on lap 85 of 110. Hinchcliffe held off Castroneves by 1.09 seconds, with Marco Andretti finishing third, passing Simona de Silvestro for the position on the final lap. ^[22] Will Power dominated the early parts of the race, but dropped to 16th at the finish after contact with J. R. Hildebrand. Dario Franchitti finished last after an early crash, and defending series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay dropped out with mechanical problems.
• 2014: Takuma Sato sat on the pole, but he lost the lead at lap 30 to Will Power. On a restart on lap 82, leader Will Power was bringing the field back to green when an "accordion effect" saw the field check-up on the main stretch. Marco Andretti and rookie Jack Hawksworth made contact and crashed into the inside barrier. Power led the most laps, and held off Ryan Hunter-Reay and Hélio Castroneves for the victory. Polesitter Takuma Sato finished 6th.
• 2015: The season opener at St. Petersburg was also the debut of unique aero kits for Honda and Chevrolet. Apprehension amongst the teams going into the race revolved around the complex, elaborate, and seemingly fragile front wings, and the lack of adequate replacement parts. The concerns were not unfounded, as dozens of on-track contacts throughout the field damaged countless wing components. Will Power won the pole position, leading a Team Penske sweep of the first four positions on the grid. Power took the lead at the start, and led 75 laps. During the final round of pit stops, Juan Pablo Montoya grabbed the lead after he managed a quicker pit stop than Power. In the closing laps, Power chased down Montoya, and narrowed the gap to less than a second with 11 laps to go. Power tried to pass Montoya for the lead in turn 10, but the two cars touched, damaging Power's front wing. Montoya held the lead, and went on to win, his first road course victory in IndyCar racing since 1999.
• 2016: Team Penske driver Will Power qualified for the pole, but was diagnosed with a concussion shortly after the conclusion of the session and was forced to miss the race. Oriol Servià filled in place of Power. ^[23] Second place qualifier Simon Pagenaud inherited the pole position. Pagenaud led the opening 48 laps before being passed by his teammate Juan Pablo Montoya. Montoya would lead 44 laps en route to his second win in a row at St. Petersburg. Rookie driver Conor Daly also led 15 laps during the race due to pit strategy, but was shuffled outside the top 10 by the end of the race. The race was slowed by only two yellows. The first came on lap 46 when Luca Filippi and Marco Andretti made contact in the first turn. The second came on the restart from the prior caution when Carlos Muñoz made contact with Graham Rahal in turn four, creating a logjam that completely blocked the race course. ^[24] After the race, Will Power was reevaluated and deemed not to have a concussion, but instead to be suffering from a lingering ear infection. ^[25] Power would be cleared to race for the following round at Phoenix International Raceway.
• 2017: Sébastien Bourdais crashed during qualifying on his out lap, and was relegated to starting 21st and last. ^[26] Bourdais charged from last to first, the first win for Dale Coyne Racing since 2014. On lap 20, the first round of green flag pit stops began, with several drivers further down the order, including Sébastien Bourdais and Simon Pagenaud, being some of the first in. However, the race's second full-course caution came out in the middle of this pit sequence on lap 26, when Tony Kanaan and Mikhail Aleshin made contact in turn 4, littering the track with debris. ^[27] The caution forced the top seven drivers in the race to pit during the caution and lose large amounts of track positions. Following the pit stops, Pagenaud, Bourdais and Marco Andretti were running 1st-2nd-3rd. Bourdais got by Pagenaud on lap 37, and began to pull away. After the second and third rounds of pit stops, Bourdais emerged with a 10-second lead, and comfortably cruised to victory over Pagenaud and Scott Dixon.
• 2020: In a season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, the new Roger Penske led IndyCar was forced to move the St. Petersburg Grand Prix from the season opener to the season finale. The race proved to be a championship deciding showdown between Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden, the latter of which won the 2019 race and the former never having won at St. Petersburg. Dixon had to finish eighth or better to win the championship, while Newgarden had to both win the race and finish at least nine positions better than Dixon to clinch the championship. Although Penske's Will Power qualified for a record ninth pole at St. Petersburg it was Andretti Autosport's Alexander Rossi who led most of the race before he suffered an unforced error and crashed into the walls. In the final stint Newgarden managed to pass Pato O'Ward for the race lead, forcing the normally calm Dixon to drive aggressively into third position and finish there to win his sixth IndyCar championship. ^[28]
• 2021: St. Petersburg returned in 2021 to its more traditional early season slot but was instead placed as the second race of the season rather than the season opener. Throughout the weekend Andretti Autosport's Colton Herta proved to be the fastest driver and ended up dominating the race, winning from pole position. Behind him Penske drivers Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud edged out Jack Harvey of Meyer Shank Racing to round out the podium.
• 2022: For the first time in two years the St. Petersburg GP returned to its season opening slot. The Grand Prix was hosted on 27 February, the earliest date the Grand Prix has ever been hosted and the earliest season start date for the IndyCar Series. The starting grid was also the largest in the history of the event with twenty six entries, including twenty five full time cars and drivers. Team Penske's second year driver and former Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin out qualified Romain Grosjean, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Colton Herta, and Rinus VeeKay for the pole position, his first in IndyCar. ^[29] McLaughlin used a two stop fuel saving strategy to lead most of the race, his strategy holding up even through a yellow caused on lap 26 by rookie David Malukas. In the closing laps 2021 champion Alex Palou, who used the same strategy as McLaughlin, began to hunt McLaughlin down for the lead. McLaughlin beat Palou's attempt at an overcut in the final series of pit stops and conserved enough push to pass to use it to both hold off Palou and work through traffic to take his first IndyCar win. Palou would finish in second place, his best finish on a street circuit. Will Power would round out the podium in third place.
• 2023: St. Petersburg again saw a record setting of entries in the Grand Prix, with 27 full time entries. Romain Grosjean qualified on pole. A first lap five car pileup threw an early red flag before racing resumed. At lap 36 Scott McLaughlin over cut Grosjean for the lead. McLaughlin held on through another series of cautions before being caught up in an incident on lap 78 between himself and Grosjean, ending Grosjean's race and putting himself a lap down. Pato O'Ward cycled to the front and led the closing laps before an overboost issue with three laps to go caused him to lose control, handing the lead to reigning Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson. Ericsson held on to win the incident filled race, which saw almost half the field retire due to crashes. O'Ward and Scott Dixon finished second and third respectively.
• 2024: The 2024 edition of the St. Petersburg Grand Prix would go down as one of the most controversial races in IndyCar history. Josef Newgarden qualified on pole, his first pole position at St. Petersburg and his first pole position in over a year. Newgarden led the entire race to cruise to an easy victory, only challenged by Pato O'Ward on the day. However, Newgarden was later disqualified and stripped of the race victory following IndyCar's discovery of illegal software manipulation by Team Penske that allowed Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin, and Will Power to use push to pass on the restarts of the race. In addition to Newgarden's disqualification, McLaughlin was stripped of his third-place finish and Power was docked ten points in the championship standings. The victory was given to Pato O'Ward by default.
• 2025: 2025 marked the first race at St. Petersburg in both the hybrid era of IndyCar and the first to be broadcast on Fox. Scott McLaughlin qualified on pole. On lap one Will Power rear ended Nolan Siegel and took out the two of them along with Rahal Letterman Lanigan rookie Louis Foster, throwing an early yellow. Racing resumed on lap 7, with the first half of the race a fight between McLaughlin, Colton Herta, and Christian Lundgaard. Herta and McLaughlin faded away after poor pitstop, letting Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden by. Dixon was jumped for the lead on lap 72 by Alex Palou via an undercut, and Palou held on to win the race to give Chip Ganassi his first win at St. Petersburg. After a fierce multi lap battle Dixon ultimately prevailed for second place, while Newgarden finished third and ran out of fuel just after crossing the finish line.

Notes

Works cited

• Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg's website
• City has had false starts with racing
• St. Petersburg course layouts maps via TheRacingLine.net
• Florida State Fairgrounds course map via TheRacingLine.net Archived 2016-03-27 at the Wayback Machine

References

1. "IndyCar delays start of season five weeks; St. Pete moves to April 25 as Barber becomes 2021 opener". IndyStar. January 6, 2021. Retrieved April 18, 2021.
2. Koff, Stephen (July 26, 1991). "Council not ready to give race go-ahead". Tampa Bay Times . Retrieved April 9, 2021.
3. "St. Petersburg Grand Prix: City has had false starts with racing". St. Petersburg Times. February 21, 2003. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
4. "Trans-am Driver Killed In Crash During St. Petersburg Event". Sun-Sentinel . 1987-11-09. Archived from the original on 2013-12-06. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
5. "Veteran driver Fitzgerald dies". Reading Eagle . Reading, Pennsylvania. November 9, 1987. Retrieved 2013-07-30.
6. Brassfield, Mike (6 April 2009). "Grand Prix is a winner for St. Petersburg". St. Petersburg Times . Archived from the original on 8 April 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
7. "Firestone rolls in as title sponsor of St. Pete race".
8. Auman, Greg (29 March 2010). "Grand Prix of St. Petersburg postponed until Monday". St. Petersburg Times . Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
9. "St. Petersburg Street Circuit".
10. Sinclair, Adam (March 16, 2015). "SPEED Energy Stadium Super Trucks Presented by TRAXXAS Returns to St. Petersburg Grand Prix for Two Races March 27–29". Speedway Digest. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
11. Green, Chuck (April 1, 2015). "Speed Energy Stadium Super Trucks Rock Saint Petersburg". Off Road Xtreme. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
12. "Team TRAXXAS Sweeps Stadium SUPER Trucks Weekend at Grand Prix of St. Petersburg". Speed Energy. March 13, 2016. Archived from the original on January 30, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
13. Nguyen, Justin (March 11, 2017). "SST: St. Petersburg Race #1 Recap". Overtake Motorsport. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
14. Nguyen, Justin (March 12, 2017). "SST: St. Petersburg Race #2 Recap". Overtake Motorsport. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
15. "2021 St. Pete Race 1 Results". Stadium Super Trucks . April 25, 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
16. "2021 St. Pete Race 2 Results". Stadium Super Trucks . April 26, 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
17. "Rahal's victory sets open-wheel record". IndyStar.com. 2008-04-06. Archived from the original on March 19, 2012. Retrieved 2008-04-08.
18. Long, Mark (March 27, 2011). "Franchitti wins IndyCar opener". ThatsRacin.com . Ann Caulkins; The McClatchy Company. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved April 18, 2011.
19. Lewandowski, Dave (March 25, 2012). "Castroneves starts year with exuberant victory". IndyCar.com. Retrieved March 26, 2012.
20. "Helio Castroneves wins opener". ESPN. March 25, 2012. Retrieved March 26, 2012.
21. "Street in St. Petersburg named for Dan Wheldon". AP . Fox News. March 7, 2012. Retrieved March 26, 2012.
22. Lewandowski, Dave (March 24, 2013). "Hinchcliffe records 1st win in drama-filled opener". IndyCar Series . IndyCar . Retrieved April 1, 2013.
23. "Power diagnosed with concussion; Servia replaces him for St. Pete race". IndyCar Series . INDYCAR. March 13, 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
24. "Montoya repeats trip to St. Pete victory lane". IndyCar Series . INDYCAR. March 13, 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
25. "Thorough testing concludes Power does not have concussion". IndyCar Series . INDYCAR. March 16, 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
26. Miller, Robin (March 11, 2017). "Power wins seventh St. Petersburg pole". Racer.com . St. Petersburg, Florida: Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. Archived from the original on 2017-03-13. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
27. Malsher, David (March 14, 2017). "IndyCar opener felt 'fabricated' – Scott Dixon". Autosport . St. Petersburg, Florida: Motorsport Network . Retrieved March 18, 2017.
28. Ryan, Nate (25 October 2020). "IndyCar results and final points standings after the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg". NBC Sports. NBC Universal. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
29. Fair, Ashley (26 February 2022). "The starting lineup for the 2022 IndyCar season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg is set following Saturday afternoon's qualifying session". Beyond The Flag. Minute Media. Retrieved 27 February 2022.

External links

• Official website

Preceded by First race of season

IndyCar Series Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

Succeeded by The Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix