Romain Grosjean took the first pole position of the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series season and the second of his IndyCar career after surviving a hectic qualifying session on Saturday (March 4). Grosjean will be chased to the green flag in Sunday’s (March 5) Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg by teammate Colton Herta, with Pato O’Ward and Marcus Ericsson filling out the second row.
“We got here and I said ‘boys, I think we’ve got something,’ and we put it out,” Grosjean told NBC Sports’ Marty Snider. “It’s kind of a home race, we live in Miami so we’re good here. And we’ve got 100 laps tomorrow to make it happen.”
Grosjean last started on pole position in the 2021 GMR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. Grosjean’s best finish at St. Petersburg is fifth in 2022 – he is still searching for his first IndyCar win.
Firestone Fast Six
The action struck immediately in the final round of qualifying when Kyle Kirkwood overshot the entry for Turn 13, destroying the front end of his No. 27 Honda and ending a promising day just under six minutes prematurely. The incident triggered a red flag; the clock was stopped with five minutes and 40 seconds to go, guaranteeing that the Fast Six would see at least six minutes of green flag action.
The loss of his fastest times due to the red flag left Kirkwood to start in sixth place on Sunday.
Scott McLaughlin brought out the second red flag of the session after spinning out in Turn 12 and sustaining right-rear damage – McLaughlin had clipped the wall on the exit of Turn 10, which may well have contributed to his loss of control two turns later.
McLaughlin will start in fifth place on Sunday as he also lost his two fastest laps as a penalty for bringing out a red flag.
Round 2
Kirkwood, in his first outing for Andretti Autosport, was assessed a drive-through penalty after sliding into the runoff area at Turn 4, triggering a local yellow flag and affecting another competitor. Christian Lundgaard was also given a drive-through penalty for a nearly identical incident at Turn 4. Kirkwood advanced to the Firestone Fast Six while Lundgaard was eliminated.
Defending St. Petersburg winner McLaughlin made it through to the Fast Six by the skin of his teeth, salvaging the day for Team Penske, whose drivers Will Power and Josef Newgarden were unexpectedly eliminated in Round 2 and Round 1, respectively.
Eliminated from Round 2…
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