Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Global

Firestone GP of St. Petersburg - facts, figures, entry list

All you need to know ahead of the second round of the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series – the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet, Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport Honda, Colton Herta, Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport Honda, Jack Harvey, Meyer Shank Racing Honda, start

Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet, Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport Honda, Colton Herta, Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport Honda, Jack Harvey, Meyer Shank Racing Honda, start

Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

Event date: Friday, Apr. 23 – Sunday, Apr. 25

Track: 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit (clockwise) through downtown St. Petersburg, FL, plus runway of Albert Whitted Airport.

Race distance: 100 laps (181 miles)

Firestone tire allotment: Six sets primary, four sets alternate, one additional set available for rookies for use in first practice.

Push-to-pass parameters: 150 seconds of total time with a maximum single duration of 15 seconds. The push-to-pass is not available on the initial start or any restart unless it occurs in the final two laps or three minutes of a timed race.

At-track IndyCar schedule (local/Eastern Time) and broadcast details

Friday, Apr. 23

4.15-5.00pm – First practice – Peacock Premium

Saturday, Apr. 24

9.45-10.30am – Second practice – Peacock Premium
1.45-3.00pm – Qualifying – Peacock Premium
10pm – Qualifying – NBCSN

Sunday, Apr. 25

9.05-9.35am – Warm-up – Peacock Premium
12.00pm – Pre-race – NBC Sports, NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app
12.35pm –
“Drivers, start your engines” – NBC, NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app
12.42pm –
Green flag: Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg – NBC, NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app

*For full on-track schedule, click here

Leigh Diffey is the announcer alongside analyst Townsend Bell.

IndyCar Radio Network broadcasts: Mark Jaynes is the chief announcer alongside analyst Davey Hamilton and Nick Yeoman. Jake Query and Michael Young are the turn announcers. The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg airs live on network affiliates, Sirius 211, XM 205, indycar.com, indycarradio.com and the IndyCar Mobile app powered by NTT DATA. All NTT IndyCar Series practices and qualifying are available on indycar.com and the IndyCar Mobile app, with qualifying also airing on XM 205.

Race Notes

2020 race winner: Josef Newgarden (Team Penske-Chevrolet), 2h06m12.5948s, 85.572mph.

2020 NTT P1 Award winner: Will Power (Team Penske-Chevrolet) 61.0369sec, 106.165mph. 

Qualifying lap record: Jordan King (Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet) 60.0476sec, 107.914mph, March 10, 2018 (set in Round 1 of qualifying)

The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be the 18th Indy car race on the streets of St. Petersburg, dating back to 2003. Josef Newgarden won last year’s race held on the streets of St. Petersburg, which was the championship-deciding race for the first time.

Scott Dixon, despite starting the race 16 times and having 50 wins to his name, is still seeking his first St. Pete win. His best results have been four runner-up finishes.

Power (2010 and ’14), Sebastien Bourdais (2017 and ’18) and  Newgarden (2019 and ’20) are the only entered drivers to win at St. Petersburg more than once, although Helio Castroneves won three times (2006, ’07, ’12), while Juan Pablo Montoya won in 2015 and ’16.

Team Penske has won the pole position 10 of the past 14 St. Petersburg races, including nine of the last 11 poles by Power. Other past pole winners active this weekend include Bourdais (2003), Graham Rahal (2009) and Takuma Sato (2014).

Just two drivers have won the race from pole – Castroneves (’07) and Power (’10).

Team Penske has won at St. Petersburg 10 times, including six of the last nine races with Castroneves (2012), Power (2014), Montoya (2015-16) and Newgarden (2019-2020).

Three drivers will be making their first St. Petersburg starts this weekend – Romain Grosjean (Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda), Jimmie Johnson (Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda) and Dalton Kellett (AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet). Although a rookie, Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske-Chevrolet made his IndyCar debut on this track in last year’s season finale.

Entry list

No. Driver Hometown Car name Team-Engine
2 Josef Newgarden Nashville, Tennessee Hitachi Team Penske Team Penske-Chevrolet
3 Scott McLaughlin (R) Christchurch, New Zealand DEX Imaging Team Penske Team Penske-Chevrolet
4 Dalton Kellett Stouffville, Canada K-Line Insulators / AJ Foyt Racing A.J. Foyt Enterprises-Chevrolet
5 Pato O'Ward Monterrey, Mexico Arrow McLaren SP Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet
7 Felix Rosenqvist Varnamo, Sweden Arrow McLaren SP Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet
8 Marcus Ericsson Kumla, Sweden Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda
9 Scott Dixon Auckland, New Zealand PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda
10 Alex Palou Barcelona, Spain NTT DATA Honda Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda
12 Will Power Toowoomba, Australia Verizon 5G Team Penske Team Penske-Chevrolet
14 Sebastien Bourdais Le Mans, France ROKiT / AJ Foyt Racing A.J. Foyt Enterprises-Chevrolet
15 Graham Rahal New Albany, Ohio United Rentals Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda
18 Ed Jones Dubai, United Arab Emirates SealMaster Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan-Honda
20 Conor Daly Noblesville, Indiana U.S. Air Force Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet
21 Rinus VeeKay Hoofddorp, Netherlands Sonax / Autogeek Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet
22 Simon Pagenaud Montmorillon, France Menards / Australian Gold Team Penske Team Penske-Chevrolet
26 Colton Herta Valencia, California Gainbridge Andretti Autosport-Honda
27 Alexander Rossi Nevada City, California NAPA AUTO PARTS / AutoNation Andretti Autosport-Honda
28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Fort Lauderdale, Florida DHL Andretti Autosport-Honda
29 James Hinchcliffe Toronto, Canada Genesys Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport-Honda
30 Takuma Sato Tokyo, Japan Panasonic / Shield Cleansers Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda
48 Jimmie Johnson (R) El Cajon, California Carvana Chip Ganassi Racing Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda
51 Romain Grosjean (R) Geneva, Switzerland Nurtec ODT Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda
59 Max Chilton Reigate, England Carlin Carlin-Chevrolet
60 Jack Harvey Bassingham, England AutoNation/SiriusXM Meyer Shank Racing-Honda

 

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation

Related video

Previous article 40 percent crowd capacity allowed for this year’s Indy 500
Next article The master manager who juggled Prost and Senna simultaneously

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Global