ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden of Team Penske did not win a pole in 2023.
He snapped that streak in the first race of 2024.
The Team Penske driver and the winner of the 107th Indianapolis 500 won the pole Saturday with the best lap in the Fast Six at 59.5714 seconds around the 14-turn, 1.8-mile street course that includes the Albert Witted Airport runway and the streets of St. Petersburg.
Newgarden, who drives the No. 2 PPG Chevrolet at Team Penske, scored his 17th career IndyCar pole. It was his first in St. Pete.
“Gosh, I get jacked up every time I show up for an IndyCar race,” Newgarden said. “You never know if you can keep coming back and produce results. It’s that difficult. I’m really proud of this team. This is a Rock Star team and I’m happy to be part of it.
“We are going to go after it every weekend.
“Together, we are going to have a really strong year.”
Felix Rosenqvist starts second in his first race with Meyer Shank Racing. The driver from Sweden ran a lap at 59.5772 in the No. 60 SiriusXM/AutoNation Honda.
“It’s been amazing so far,” Rosenqvist said. “I’ve been driving very natural all weekend and haven’t thought too much about driving the car. My team has done a great job figuring out what I like in the car. It’s amazing so far.
“One hundred laps to go.”
The difference between first and second was 58-10,000ths of a second.
“It felt really good, but this is only day one,” Newgarden said. “Sunday is what pays the bills.
“I couldn’t feel more positive.”
Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team was third at 59.6540 seconds in the No. 5 Chevrolet. Colton Herta of Andretti Global was fourth at 59.8189 seconds in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.
Another driver with a new team, Romain Grosjean of Juncos Hollinger Racing, was fifth at 1:00.642 followed by last year’s St. Petersburg winner, Marcus Ericsson, was sixth at 1:03.5583 in the No. 28 Honda for Andretti Global.
None of the five drivers for Chip Ganassi Racing were able to advance into the Fast Six. Just one of the three drivers at Team Penske made it to the Fast Six.
Notable Drivers Who Start Deep In The Field
Defending NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou did not advance out of the first group of the first segment when he was seventh at 59.7897 seconds in the No. 10 DHL Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.
“It was all better, it was close, but it’s a shame we were able to advance out of our group,” Palou said. “This is not where we want to start, but it’s all about survival in the race and we’ll see what we can do.”
Alexander Rossi claimed that he was impeded during his qualifying attempt. He finished eighth in the group at 59.8164 in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
“That’s IndyCar,” he said. “I don’t want to talk about that too much. The car was a struggle on reds. It’s a mess at the moment.”
Round By Round
The drivers that advanced out of that group included defending winner Ericsson at 59.3703 seconds in the. No. 28, Armstrong in the No. 11 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda at 59.5263 seconds, O’Ward at 59.5507 seconds, Newgarden at 59.5699 seconds, Rinus VeeKay at 59.5805 seconds and Scott McLaughlin at 59.6202 seconds.
Drivers that did not advance into Round 2 including Palou, Rossi, Tom Blomqvist, Linus Lundqvist, Christian Rasmussen, Kyffin Simpson and Colin Braun.
The second group of Round 1 featured Herta as the fastest at 59.5596 seconds, Grosjean of Juncos-Hollinger Racing at 59.5709 seconds in the No. 77 Chevrolet, Rosenqvist at 59.6220 seconds, Will Power at 59.6888 seconds, Scott Dixon at 59.7200 seconds and Christian Lundgaard at 59.7940 seconds.
Drivers that failed to advance included A.J. Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci, Callum Ilott of Arrow McLaren, Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global, Agustin Canapino of Juncos Hollinger, Graham Rahal, Sting Ray Robb, Pietro Fittipaldi and Jack Harvey.
“I misjudged it across the entire team on that one because we did have a car that could advance,” said Kirkwood, who will start 18th. “You can get up from there, but you have to push. There’s a lot of yellows and with those yellows comes a chance for two pit stops, but once there is a lot of yellows one year, the next year there aren’t as many.
“Our pit stops have been really good at the shop in the offseason. Our car if fast and this car suits us, so that should be good.”
The Fast 12 culminated with back-to-back track record runs.
Grosjean went from 11th to first with a great run before Ericsson surpassed that speed with 30 seconds left in the session. But it was Herta who had a new track record at 59.3157 seconds in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.
That was before Rosenqvist went from 12th to first at the very end with a lap at 59.2706 seconds in the No. 60 SiriusXM/AutoNation Honda.
Herta was second followed by Newgarden’s 59.3214-second lap, Ericsson’s 59.4484, Grosjean’s 59.5074 and O’Ward’s 59.532.
Missing the cut were VeeKay’s 59.5501, Power’s 59.5594, McLaughlin’s 59.5741, Armstrong’s 59.6127, Dixon ‘s 59.8483 and Lundgaard’s 1:00.0172.
“Q1 went pretty well for us,” Dixon said. “We pushed hard but lost the front. We seem to be on the outside edge of the box instead of in the middle of it. In the end, we had way too much understeer to put a good lap together.
“When you are in the sweet spot, everything is easier. We have seen some teams hit the ground running this weekend. Armstrong in 10th is the best that we’ve got at the moment for the Chip Ganassi cars.”
Power, a two-time St. Pete winner, did not make the Fast Six.
“I had to finish that second lap, just to be eighth, but still man, top 12, P8, we can definitely race from there,” Power said. “You have to dig deep in these qualifying sessions. Would love to get in the Fast Six, but a good spot.
“It’s a like a bloody sauna in the car. A steam room. This is the first time all weekend you are digging deep. Great series, man, so, so tight. Really enjoy it.”