ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It was the first day of school for IndyCar on Friday and Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global raced to the head of the class.
The driver from Jupiter, Fla., drove across the state from the Atlantic Coast to Tampa Bay for this weekend’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg — the season opening race for the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season.
He then scorched the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street circuit at 1:00.4409 for a speed of 107.212 mph in the No. 27 Chili’s Honda for Andretti Global – the fastest overall driver in Friday’s practice session.
IndyCar practice sessions on Friday are split into two groups followed by another practice with all cars on track.
“I think we were in this position last year where we were quick out of the gate,” Kirkwood said. “We have to continue that.
“Good day for the Chili’s Honda. First official session of the year, we’ve led. Extremely happy with that. Happy that we know our cars are still quick around street courses.
“All positive.”
Three-time and back-to-back IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing was second in the No. 10 DHL Honda at 1:00.6004 (106.930 mph). Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin was third fastest in the No. 3 Chevrolet for Team Penske at 1:01.0002 (106.279 mph) before he crashed during the final practice session.
McLaughlin’s No. 3 Chevrolet made hard left-side contact into the barrier in Turn 3. The car sustained a suspension failure and stopped on course. McLaughlin climbed from the car without assistance from the AMR IndyCar Safety Team.
He was seen and released from the IndyCar Medical Unit.
“It was a mistake on my part,” McLaughlin said. “I was a little wide at the exit of Turn 3 and there is a bit of a bump there. That put me wider than I wanted to be and into the wall.”
Andretti Global’s Colton Herta was fourth in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda at 1:001.0603 (106.125 mph) and defending race winner Pato O’Ward rounded out the top five at 1:01.1161 (106.028 mph) in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
Twenty-seven car/driver combinations practiced on Friday.
“It was different, just compared to last year,” Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden said after practice. “We didn’t have the hybrid here is probably the biggest year-over-year change.
“Then the tires have taken an iteration, if you will. It was a known thing. We’ve been working on this in the off-season. Firestone has been pretty transparent and open that we’re looking for a different mix between the primary and the alternate. They definitely have different properties to what they had last year. A lot to dive in.
“There wasn’t a lot of laps. I ran pre-sim laps on the primaries and then I did that one run on the alternate. Felt really good on the primaries, so-so on the alternates. I didn’t really do a good lap at all. Kind of understand why. We’re going to pick apart everything tonight and try to be in a big spot for tomorrow.
“Good to be back. What a great atmosphere today. I think St. Pete has typically felt like this even on a Friday, but today looked really, really great.
“Nice to be back at the track.”
Newgarden was the first to the checkered flag in last year’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg ahead of O’Ward. Six weeks later, however, Newgarden’s win was disqualified for manipulating the team’s “push-to-pass” system.
“I think there’s definitely motivation for us to do well,” Newgarden said. “That seems obvious. I won’t shy away from saying that.
“Definitely we want to come out here and do a great job this weekend. It would be very gratifying to win the race.
“I don’t think that needs to be our focus,” Newgarden said referring to last year’s DQ. “I don’t see how this year is different. Every year I show up at St. Pete it’s about putting up a solid result on the board. I really mean that. I’m not just trying to be poetic.
“You have to get a result on the board to start the year and you got to start thinking championship right away. If we can come out of this weekend with a good result, a clean car, I think that it’s going to be a win.
“Do we ultimately want to have a dominant day, be out front, make a statement? Absolutely. I hope that happens. I’m not going to try to force that. I think we need to get what we can this weekend, what we’re capable of, move on to the next and have a really solid year.
“That’s more where our focus is right now.”
IndyCar is back on track Saturday for a practice from 10:15-11:15 a.m. Eastern Time. Qualifying is set for 2:30 to 4 p.m. featuring three rounds of knockout qualifying culminating in the Firestone Fast Six.
