Josef Newgarden led a hungry field to the checkered line in Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, claiming his first victory of the 2024 IndyCar season.
He led 92 of the 100 circuits and had nearly pulled away as the laps counted down. Newgarden finished 7.9 seconds ahead of his closest competitor, Pato O’Ward.
The other members of Team Penske finished third and fourth, giving the team a strong start to the season. This performance was aided by advancements in the Chevrolet engines that power half the field.
The season opening was relatively incident-free, with the majority of cautions resulting from single-car collisions. The one exception was when Romain Grosjean and Linus Lundqvist collided, and the former was penalized for the attempted move.
The next race on the program is not your ordinary event; it will be a $1 million challenge demonstration event staged in two weeks.
| # | Driver | Time / Gap | Laps Led | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Josef Newgarden | 01:51:29.5954 | 92 | 54 |
| 2 | Pato O’Ward | 7.9121 | – | 40 |
| 3 | Scott McLaughlin | 8.4577 | – | 35 |
| 4 | Will Power | 9.0559 | – | 32 |
| 5 | Colton Herta | 10.2578 | 1 | 31 |
| 6 | Alex Palou | 11.8036 | – | 28 |
| 7 | Felix Rosenqvist | 14.4044 | – | 26 |
| 8 | Alexander Rossi | 15.7853 | – | 24 |
| 9 | Scott Dixon | 16.2964 | – | 22 |
| 10 | Rinus VeeKay | 18.8346 | – | 20 |
| 11 | Santino Ferrucci | 23.0437 | – | 19 |
| 12 | Kyle Kirkwood | 24.5876 | – | 18 |
| 13 | Callum Ilott | 28.7113 | – | 17 |
| 14 | Kyffin Simpson | 29.5662 | – | 16 |
| 15 | Pietro Fittipaldi | 32.8175 | – | 15 |
| 16 | Graham Rahal | 34.6955 | – | 14 |
| 17 | Tom Blomqvist | 40.4726 | – | 13 |
| 18 | Agustin Canapino | 42.1247 | – | 12 |
| 19 | Jack Harvey | 49.3453 | – | 11 |
| 20 | Christian Lundgaard | 58.7347 | 7 | 11 |
| 21 | Christian Rasmussen | 1 Lap | – | 9 |
| 22 | Colin Braun | 1 Lap | – | 8 |
| 23 | Linus Lundqvist | 3 Laps | – | 7 |
| 24 | Romain Grosjean | 18 Laps | – | 6 |
| 25 | Marcus Ericsson | 48 Laps | – | 5 |
| 26 | Sting Ray Robb | 67 Laps | – | 5 |
| 27 | Marcus Armstrong | 75 Laps | – | 5 |
