Josef Newgarden led a field of hungry competitors to the checkered flag for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, securing the first victory of the 2024 IndyCar season.
He led 92 of the 100 laps, and all but pulled away as the laps counted down. Newgarden finished the race 7.9 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger Pato O’Ward.
In third and fourth place were the other members of Team Penske, giving the team an impressive start to the season. A performance that was helped by advances in the Chevrolet engines that power half the field
READ MORE: IndyCar St. Pete – Full Race Report
The season-opener was largely incident free, and most of the cautions were caused by single car incidents. The one exception was when Romain Grosjean and Linus Lundqvist came together, with the former receiving a penalty for the attempted move.
The next race on the schedule is not a typical event, and will be the $1 million challenge exhibition event held in two weeks’ time.
| # | 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 |
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