By David Morgan, Associate Editor
After a long six-month offseason, the NTT IndyCar Series is back in action for the 2024 campaign, beginning with Sunday’s running of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
As the home of the IndyCar season opener, the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit along the waterfront in St. Petersburg, Florida, including the runway of the Albert Whitted Airport has provided an exciting venue to kick off the season and the 2024 edition should be another action-packed chapter.
The on-track activity begins with practice on Friday afternoon at 2:45 pm ET, followed by a second practice on Saturday morning at 9:35 am ET leading into qualifying at 3:00 pm ET. Sunday’s 100-lap main event is scheduled for a 12:30 pm ET start on NBC.
Friday’s first practice will be notable as it will be the first time that IndyCar will be rolling out a new practice format in an effort to alleviate traffic issues that have become more prevalent in recent years on the tight confines of the street course.
Instead of the full session featuring the full field, the session will have all cars run the first 20 minutes, followed by the field being split in half according to odd and even pit box numbers. For the remainder of the session, the two groups will alternate in 10-minute increments as they try to dial in their setups.
The new practice format is currently only planned to be used in the opening session of the weekend, but the sanctioning body will no doubt take the input from the drivers and teams into consideration when determining whether it will be used at any other events going forward.
By the Numbers
What: Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, NTT IndyCar Series Race No. 1 of 17
Where: Streets of St. Petersburg – St. Petersburg, Florida (Opened: 1985, first INDYCAR event was 2003)
When: Sunday, March 10
TV/Radio: NBC 12:00 p.m. EST / INDYCAR Radio Network (SiriusXM Channels 85 & 160)
Track Size: 1.8-mile street course
Race Length: 100 laps, 180 miles
2023 Race Winner: Marcus Ericsson – No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda (Started fourth, four laps led)
Track Qualifying Record: Will Power – No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet (59.3466 seconds, 109.189 mph – February 26, 2022)
From the Driver’s Seat
“The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is one of my favorite races on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES calendar,” said Kyle Kirkwood.
“As a Florida native, I consider St. Petersburg to…
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