ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For the first time since Alex Palou won the season-ending Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey on Sept. 11, the NTT IndyCar Series teams were back in competition Friday.
It was the streets of St. Petersburg as 27 cars participated in Friday’s opening 75-minute practice session for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon was the fastest driver around the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street course.
Dixon’s fast lap came late in the session, a 1:01.6145 for a speed of 105.170 mph in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.
“It’s always fantastic to be here in St. Pete,” said Dixon, who has never won this event despite the fact he is second all-time in IndyCar wins with 53. “The first session was a little mixed. We had some track repairs. The session ran really late but it was a nice and long hour and 15-minute session, which was good. It was a couple of sets of tires for most of the field, but we ended at the top, which was a nice way to start the weekend. Now, the tough part of trying to stay there.”
Colton Herta, who won this race in 2021, was second at 1:01.6475 (105.114 mph) in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda. Palou, the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series champion, was third in the No. 10 American Legion Honda at 1:01.6790 (105.060 mph).
“First practice of the year, and it felt good to be back in the car, back with the team,” Palou said. “It was a good day and start to the weekend. There were a lot of new bumps in the track that we need to sort out with the car set-up, but so far, so good. We started with a really strong base in the top five with a couple cars. This is going to be a really good weekend for The American Legion team.”
Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Autosport was fourth in the No. 27 Honda at 1:01.6851 (105.050 mph) and Simon Pagenaud rounded out the top five at 1:01.6963 (105.031 mph) in the No. 60 Honda for Meyer Shank Racing.
“It was solid,” Kirkwood said. “I mean, we just rolled off of two amazing tests at Thermal and Sebring. All of the speed that we’ve had in pre-season testing has translated to now.
“It’s definitely really nice to roll into a weekend with some pace, right? I mean, as everyone knows, IndyCar is so close, if you’re behind by a couple 10ths, you’re usually fighting to get that all weekend.
“It’s a good feeling, especially since Colton is up there, too. I think some guys that ended up ahead of us went to new tires at the end. I’m not sure about that.”
Rookie Benjamin Pedersen was the first to have an issue during practice as the A.J. Foyt Racing driver spun and hit the turn-four wall just 10 minutes into the session.
It was the first of two incidents for the rookie.
There were 705 laps turned during the initial practice session for the NTT IndyCar Series.