McLaughlin and Taylor continue dominant weekend with Grand Prix of St. Petersburg’s pole positions
- Jeffrey Hrunka
- 17 hours ago
- 4 min read
Jeffrey Hrunka - INDYCAR Contributor
Scott McLaughlin took pole in Fast Six qualifying on the Streets of St. Petersburg ahead of Marcus Ericsson and rookie Dennis Hauger. Not only was it the 12th pole of the New Zealander’s career, but it was also his back-to-back poles for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
“Just really proud of the execution, because I felt like we nearly actually missed the [advancing past the first qualifying session we were right on the buffer there, and the car was, was terrible,” McLaughlin said. “So it was nice to tune it up and get it right, and then ir become one of my favorite cars I've had around here.”
He was one of the two Team Penske drivers who reached the Fast Six, with David Malukas, driver of the No.12 Chevrolet, qualifying fifth (1:00.764s) in his first start with the team. Two-time Grand Prix of St. Petersburg winner Josef Newgarden continued his abysmal weekend, qualifying 23rd of 25 drivers who entered the weekend.
Former St. Petersburg winner Marcus Ericsson, driver of the No.28 Andretti Global Honda, qualified alongside McLaughlin in second (1:00.652s), as the fastest Honda in the field and the only Andretti Global team inside the Top-12.
Aside from Newgarden, several other drivers struggled to find the speed needed to advance into the Fast 12. Will Power and Scott Dixon continued their difficult weekends after crashing their cars in the weekend’s earlier practice sessions, timed 13th (1:01.194s) and 16th (1:01.263s). Power and Dixon were poised as favorites, as Power is a multi-time winner at the circuit and Dixon finished one spot short of his maiden Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg win.
The biggest surprise of the session came in the speed of Dale Coyne Racing, as rookie Dennis Hauger and Romain Grosjean qualified third (1:00.574s) and sixth (1:00.782s) in the No. 19 and No. 18 Chevrolets. This race was monumental for both drivers as it marked Hauger's first qualifying session in INDYCAR and Grojean’s first race back since 2024.
Rookies Mick Scumacher and Caio Collett didn’t have the same luck as Hauger, as both drivers will start towards the back of the grid in 21st (1:01.498s) and 24th (1:01.572s), respectively.
Even with the shake-up qualifying produced, McLaughlin made it known that the results produced in St. Petersburg won’t tell the story of the season ahead, as he went on to have one of his worst seasons to date after taking pole position at St. Petersburg last year.
“Great way to start our year, but we did this last year, and I proceeded at the worst year of my life,” McLaughlin said. “So I'm just focused on execution tomorrow and the rest of the season.”
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Qualifying Results (Top 12):
Scott McLaughlin #3 -1:00.543s* (LEADER)
Marcus Ericsson #28 -0.012s*
Dennis Hauger #19 (R) -0.032s*
Alex Palou #10 -0.142s*
David Malukas -0.221s*
Romain Grojean #18 -0.804s*
Marcus Armstrong #66 -0.432s
Pato O’Ward #5 -0.523s
Louis Foster #45 -0.s
Kyffin Simposon #8 -0.439s
Felix Rosenqvist #60 -0.4406s
Christian Lundgaard #7 -0.4408s
Denotes Fast Six*
Max Taylor, driver of the Andretti Global No.28, has made it seem that “Norwegian Nightmare” is still around, haunting the rest of the INDY NXT SERIES field, in identical fashion to former INDY NXT champion, Hauger. Similar to the INDYCAR's newest rookie, Taylor has remained perfect throughout the weekend, having swept the series's both practice sessions and qualifying ahead of the weekend.
Hometown favorite Nikita Johnson timed fastest, with a 1:05.219s lap time in Group 1 to sit beside Taylor, in his second-ever start around the street circuit.
Andretti Global continued its dominance in the latter series of INDYCAR, putting all four of its INDY NXT cars inside the top six. Taylor led the group with a 1:04.889s with teammates Seb Murray, Lochie Hughes and Josh Pierson, who all timed at least four tenths behind him.
Mattero Nannini, driver of the HMD Motorsports No. 20, brought out the only major stoppage to qualifying, skimming turn two and making a major impact into the turn three barrier, destroying the racecar. He will lineup 23rd only ahead of rookie Enzo Fittpaldo, driver of the HMD Motorsports No.67, who skimmed the wall for left side suspension damage.
INDY NXT SERIES Qualifying Results (Top 10):
Max Taylor #28 -1:04.889s (LEADER)*
Nikita Johnson #21 (R) -1:05.219s
Seb Murray #27 -0.503s*
Lochie Hughes #26 -0.096s
Tymek Kucharczyk #71 (R) -0.514s*
Josh Pierson #29 -0.383s
Myles Rowe #99 -0.626s*
Alessandro de Tullio #14 (R) -0.529s
JM Correa -0.636s*
Salvador de Alba #17 -0.618s
Group 2 - Inside Lane * Faster group denotes inside lane
Group 1 - Outside Lane
NTT INDYCAR SERIES and INDY NXT SERIES action returns to the Streets of St. Petersburg on Sunday, March 1. INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be on FS1 at 10:00 am, with INDYCAR action returning for warm-up at 9:00 am on FS1 and the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on FOX at 12:00 pm.
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