Reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou is off to another strong title defence after winning the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
The Spaniard, who started fourth for Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, utilised an early overcut pit strategy to jump to the front and control the last 62 of 100 laps. In the end he beat polesitter Scott McLaughlin by 12.4948s.
Team Penske’s McLaughlin led 34 laps but was unable to mount a challenge to Palou so had to settle for second, ahead of Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard who climbed from 12th to the third and final spot on the podium.
Kyle Kirkwood, who started 15th for Andretti Global, lost out on a second-place effort after being forced to save fuel and faded to fourth, but did keep clear of Pato O’Ward who finished fifth in the #5 Arrow McLaren.
At the start, McLaughlin got a clean getaway but it didn’t take long for chaos to ensue behind him. As the field blew through Turn 4, Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Sting Ray Robb clipped the inside of the curb and bounced into Santino Ferrucci’s AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet.
The two ended up into the tyre barrier, with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s rookie Mick Schumacher, making his series debut, climbing up and over the back of Ferrucci’s car. Robb was able to continue and was penalised for avoidable contact, while Ferrucci and Schumacher were forced to retire.
Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske
Photo by: Gavin Baker / Lumen via Getty Images
Will Power’s 45th birthday and Andretti debut turned sour as contact in Turn 10, the same place he crashed during second practice, led to a pitstop on lap 21. The Andretti crew saw enough on the right-rear suspension to take it behind the wall. He managed to return around the halfway mark, albeit 30 laps down.
Pitstops began on lap 31, to see Palou cycle into the lead, ahead of Ericsson and McLaughlin.
Ericsson’s pace began to fade and McLaughlin took advantage with an inside pass into turn 1 on lap 65. Ericsson then struggled to fend off other challenges as Arrow McLaren’s Lundgaard also jumped him. Mercifully, Ericsson was brought into the pits on lap 66 for a set of softer alternate tyres.
Palou pitted on lap 67 after amassing a 14s lead and swapped soft tyres for a set of the harder primaries.
Kirkwood, using an undercut, jumped the majority of his rivals and got ahead of McLaughlin – with an aggressive outside pass at Turn 4 – during the pit cycle.
Despite late pressure by Lundgaard after Kirkwood had faded, McLaughlin held him off to finish second as Palou walked off with the win.
IndyCar St. Petersburg results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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