ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – An early-morning warmup session for the NTT IndyCar Series concluded on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street course with defending winner Colton Herta the fastest driver of the 30-minute session.
Herta, who won last year’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, was the quickest at 1:00.3283 in the No. 26 Honda for Andretti Autosport. Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden as second at 1:00.5971 in the No. 3 Chevrolet for Team Penske. Defending NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou was third at 1:00.8311 in the No. 10 Honda.
RESULTS: Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Warmup
Callum Ilott of Juncos Hollinger Racing was a surprising fourth at 1:01.0936 in the No. 77 Chevrolet. Six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon rounded out the top five at 1:01.8979 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda.
Pole winner Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske was sixth in the No. 3 Chevrolet at 1:01.1952.
At 9 a.m. Eastern Time, the temperature was 75 degrees with 70 percent humidity with bright sunshine, giving teams and drivers an idea of what to expect with the Noon EST.
With 8:57 left in the warmup, Jimmie Johnson locked up the brakes and spun off course in turn 10 near Dan Wheldon Way. That was Johnson’s fourth spin of the weekend and brought out the red flag. It was the only stoppage during the session.