NTT INDYCAR SERIES PHOTO
Palou Pulls Off Master Class to Open IndyCar Season with St. Petersburg Win
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Sunday, March 2, 2025) – One of the big
questions for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES field entering the 2025 season was
how to halt the title march of three-time and two-time defending series
champion Alex Palou.
They’re still searching for that answer, even after the first race of
the season Sunday on the sunny streets of St. Petersburg.
Palou opened his quest for a third consecutive Astor Challenge Cup as
series champion in the best way possible, winning the Firestone Grand
Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding in a master class of
strategy, speed and patience. He drove his No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi
Racing Honda to a 2.8669-second victory over teammate and six-time
series champion Scott Dixon, who said afterward that he contested the
last 90 laps of the 100-lap race without radio communication in the No.
9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
“What an amazing job by everybody,” Palou said. “They gave me
everything we needed this weekend to win. I told you yesterday we had a
really, really fast car.
“Our strategy changed a lot during that first yellow, but I’m so
glad we got that No. 10 in Victory Lane. It’s been 138 days since
Nashville (2024 season finale), and I’ve been dreaming about this
every single night.”
Spaniard Palou, who started eighth, earned his 12th career victory in
the series. The Ganassi team secured its first 1-2 finish since July
2023 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Two-time series champion Josef Newgarden rounded out the podium
finishers in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet after Dixon passed him
for second on the final lap.
NTT P1 Award winner Scott McLaughlin finished fourth in the No. 3 DEX
Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet, as Team Penske joined Chip Ganassi Racing
with two drivers in the top four. McLaughlin was one of seven drivers
out front today, leading a race-high 40 laps.
Florida native and resident Kyle Kirkwood rounded out the top five
finishers at his home race in the No. 27 Chili’s Honda fielded by
Andretti Global.
Palou took the lead for good on Lap 75 when Felix Rosenqvist made his
final pit stop in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing. It
was the culmination of a race of split strategies, as drivers who
started on the grippier, less durable Firestone Firehawk alternate tires
– including Palou, Dixon and Newgarden – jumped into the pits on Lap
3 during the only caution period to shed the alternates for Firestone
primary tires.
That proved decisive, yet Palou didn’t just inherit the lead at the
race’s three-quarter mark and cruise to Victory Lane. He produced
blazing in and out laps surrounding his final pit stop at the end of Lap
72, undercutting his teammate Dixon, who couldn’t discuss strategy
with his team and reacted to Palou’s pit move by stopping one lap
later after being slowed by thick traffic.
After his final stop, Dixon exited the pits behind a charging Palou.
“We were just kind of flying blind out there,” Dixon said of his
radio problems. “Ultimately, I think they were trying to call me in
because on that last lap we had before we pitted, there was just so much
traffic, and we lost two or three seconds. That’s where the 10 car got
us.”
Said Palou: “I think he (Dixon) got trapped in traffic a little bit.
That’s why the 10 stand decided to pit a little bit early. We had a
really clean out lap, could run fast and just opened a gap from
there.”
Palou was 4.502 seconds ahead of Newgarden on Lap 75, but that gap
didn’t last. Newgarden sliced that margin to 2.4 seconds by Lap 88 as
Palou coped with turbulent air from the car ahead of him, the No. 77
Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet of Sting Ray Robb, who was racing to
stay on the lead lap.
Newgarden took advantage and continued to stalk Palou, pulling to within
.8186 of a second after Lap 95. Dixon also was gaining ground in third.
But a potential logjam of three cars battling for the checkered flag was
scattered when Palou finally lapped Robb in Turn 1 on Lap 96. Newgarden
and Dixon squirted past Robb on the same lap, but the traffic-free clean
air allowed Palou to pull away immediately.
Palou expanded his gap to 1.1959 seconds after Lap 97 and 1.6938 seconds
at the white flag at the end of Lap 99. His lead grew even more during
the final trip around the 14-turn, 1.8-mile street circuit as Dixon and
Newgarden dueled for second. Dixon got past fellow Indianapolis 500
winner and series champion Newgarden in Turn 10 on the final lap.
“I felt like our car today certainly was capable of winning,”
Newgarden said. “Just didn’t quite get there for a couple of
reasons. Pit cycles, obviously, we needed to go longer, and we had a
shift at the end that we didn’t realize, so we kind of had to give up
that second place.”
2024 St. Petersburg winner Pato O’Ward used a mix of strategy and
speed to climb from the 23rd starting spot to finish 11th in the No. 5
Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. That was the biggest climb from start to finish
by any of the 27 drivers in the field.
Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Race Results
Results Sunday of the Firestone Grand Prix of St.
Petersburg presented by RP Funding NTT INDYCAR SERIES event on the
1.8-mile streets of St. Petersburg circuit, with order of finish,
starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed
and reason out (if any):
1. (8) Alex Palou, Honda, 100, Running
2. (6) Scott Dixon, Honda, 100, Running
3. (10) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 100, Running
4. (1) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 100, Running
5. (9) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 100, Running
6. (7) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 100, Running
7. (3) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 100, Running
8. (5) Christian Lundgaard, Chevrolet, 100, Running
9. (12) Rinus VeeKay, Honda, 100, Running
10. (20) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 100, Running
11. (23) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 100, Running
12. (21) Graham Rahal, Honda, 100, Running
13. (17) David Malukas, Chevrolet, 100, Running
14. (19) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 100, Running
15. (24) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 100, Running
16. (2) Colton Herta, Honda, 100, Running
17. (22) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 100, Running
18. (15) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 100, Running
19. (27) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 100, Running
20. (18) Robert Shwartzman, Chevrolet, 100, Running
21. (26) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 99, Running
22. (14) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 99, Running
23. (25) Jacob Abel, Honda, 99, Running
24. (4) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 46, Contact
25. (11) Nolan Siegel, Chevrolet, 0, Contact
26. (13) Will Power, Chevrolet, 0, Contact
27. (16) Louis Foster, Honda, 0, Contact
Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 97.173 mph
Time of Race: 1:51:08.5118
Margin of victory: 2.8669 seconds
Cautions: 1 for 6 laps
Lead changes: 9 among 7 drivers
Lap Leaders:
McLaughlin, Scott 1 – 31
Armstrong, Marcus 32 – 34
Herta, Colton 35
Newgarden, Josef 36 – 37
Dixon, Scott 38
McLaughlin, Scott 39 – 45
Lundgaard, Christian 46 – 68
Dixon, Scott 69 – 72
McLaughlin, Scott 73 – 74
Palou, Alex 75 – 100
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings: Palou 51, Dixon 41, McLaughlin 36,
Newgarden 36, Kirkwood 30, Ericsson 28, Rosenqvist 26, Lundgaard 25,
VeeKay 22, Rossi 20, O’Ward 19, Rahal 18, Malukas 17, Ferrucci 16, Herta
15, Rasmussen 15, Daly 13, Simpson 12, Ilott 11, Shwartzman 10, Robb 9,
DeFrancesco 8, Abel 7, Armstrong 7, Siegel 5, Power 5, Foster 5
The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is The Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix
on Sunday, March 23 at Thermal, California (3 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Sports
app, INDYCAR Radio Network).