ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Colton Herta, the 2021 Firestone Grand Prix of Long Beach winner, returned to the top of the timing screen Sunday morning as the fastest driver on the streets of St. Petersburg.
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The Andretti Autosport driver raced his No. 26 Gainbridge Honda, lapped the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street course in 1:00.5886.
Teammate Kyle Kirkwood was second fastest at 1:00.7213 followed by six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing at 1:00.8377 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda.
Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves of Meyer Shank Racing was fourth at 1:00.9833 and England’s Callum Ilott rounded out the top five at 1:01.0320 in the No. 77 Juncos Chevrolet.
“The race car seems good; it’s just staying out of trouble and having some clean air,” Ilott said afterwards.
The warmup session ran without a caution flag, although Team Penske driver and two-time IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden had issues at the end when his car ran off course. It didn’t appeared to sustain any damage.
Sunday’s season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is set for 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time with the NBC broadcast beginning at 12 noon.