Chevrolet power proves prevalent as McLaughlin and Lungaard top NTT INDYCAR practice sessions
- Jeffrey Hrunka
- Feb 28
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 1
Jeffrey Hrunka - INDYCAR Contributor
After crashing in practice in his last time around the Streets of St. Petersburg. Scott McLaughlin, driver of the No.3 Team Penske Chevrolet, topped first practice four-tenths ahead of Hondas of Felix Rosenqvist, driver of the Meyer Shank Racing No.60 and Kyle Kirkwood, driver of the Andretti Global No.27.
McLaughlin ran the fastest time of the weekend with a 1:01.102s lap. His speed in practice can be attributed to the mixed conditions that plagued the circuit through Friday night, Feb. 27 and into Saturday morning, Feb.28.
The opening session didn't see a lot of chaos, outside of an incident from six-time champion Scott Dixon, driver of the No.9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, who hit the turn nine wall after missing the corner.
Defending winner and four-time champion Alex Palou, driver of the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, finished the session sixth (1:01.261s), two tenths behind McLaughlin, as the fifth fastest Honda overall, and was one of six who made up the top-10.
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice 1 Results (Top 10):
Palou was one of several driver who were able to replicate their speed in both practice sessions. His top-10 pace was solidified in the series’ second practice session as he was one of five drivers to place inside the top-10 in both sessions.
The Team Penske duo of David Maulkas, driver of the No. 12 Chevrolet and McLaughlin, driver, joined Palou in this effort, solidifying the pace the team has had around this circuit in recent years. The one outlier is how the two-time Grand Prix of St. Petersburg winner, Josef Newgarden, driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet, could not reach this mark in either session.
"I would say it's more setup-related for us,” Newgarden said after Friday’s practice. “We tried something different on our car, and I just got loose through the corner. So it was pretty simple as that, but nothing on the track.”
The second practice saw much more chaos, fueled by the aforementioned weather. Three different cars battled issues in their groups, with Will Power, driver of the No.26 Andretti Global Honda and Christian Rasmussen, driver of the Ed Carpenter Racing No.21 Chevrolet, junking their cars in Turn 10 and Turn 3, respectively, after losing it in the corners.
Both drivers were released from the NTT INDYCAR SERIES care center and will need to rebuild their cars ahead of Saturday afternoon qualifying.
Rookie Caio Collett, driver of the No.4 A.J Foyt Racing Chevrolet, broke his suspension heading into turn one to bring an end to the first practice session for group two. It wasn’t until the final session of the second practice session that Christian Lundgaard, driver of the No.7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, turned the fastest lap of the second session with a 1:01.616s.
All drivers remained on the same compound of primary compounds through boy
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice 2 Results (Top 10):
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES returns to the track with qualifying on Saturday afternoon on FS2, following the OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 at St. Petersburg and INDY NXT’s qualifying session.
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