Indycar Talk: Newgarden Lays Groundwork for New Season

It was very much a story of Team Penske vs Chip Ganassi come Sunday, with Josef Newgarden avoiding traffic during the second pitstop phase to leapfrog his rivals and pull away for the win the opening NTT Indycar Championship race from St Petersburg.

The American takes an early lead in the standings as a result, drawing first blood for Team Penske who had also locked out the front row in qualifying.

While Newgarden took the spoils, all eyes were on Felix Rosenqvist, who, on his debut, was already making an immediate impression, only losing his chance at a memorable victory after a poor pitstop phase.

Scott Dixon was only one of the leading pack to not actually lead the race, but proved to be Newgarden’s only competition after the final stops, recovering after what could have been a disaster in qualifying as he spun on his penultimate run. Meanwhile, Will Power completed the podium after dropping back with Rosenqvist, despite both controlling the early stages of the race.

Qualifying had caused a stir for many as an extended red flag period ensured a number of high profile contenders dropped out early, including Sebastien Bourdais, winner of the last two St. Pete races. The Frenchman caught fire on lap 12 of the race, concluding his torrid weekend.

Dixon was another of these to fall victim, but was given a lease when Takuma Sato had his fastest time deleted. He would eventually get through to the top 6 shootout, qualifying fourth, thus proving his group stage scare, was not representative of his pace.

The surprise of Saturday had been the rookies. Colton Herta was one of the fastest drivers in the groups and would have been into the Top 6 had his time not been disallowed for blocking Charlie Kimball, after he slowed down to let him past, but on the racing line.

One rookie who had impressed all the way to the flag had been Rosenqvist. The Swede is a veteran of various motorsports, but surprised the establishment to qualify third behind the Penske pair of Power and Newgarden.

Rosenqvist continued to cause upset on the Sunday, immediately taking second as Newgarden reacted late to Power’s getaway.

After Ryan Hunter-Reay’s expired Honda engine brought out a FCY on lap 20 of 110, Will lost power on the restart dropping behind Rosenqvist who immediately broke away. It proved to only be temporary though, as Ed Jones hit the wall a few laps later,  being collected by the unfortunate Matheus Leist.

The next phase soon saw a distinct top five appear as Rosenqvist led a five car train of Power, Newgarden, Dixon and Alexander Rossi.

By this point, the field had started to spread out and traffic became a large concern. Rosenqvist, by virtue of his free space, had more push to pass than any other driver, but perhaps due to inexperience, failed to utilise his position. Power pitted first and was immediately quicker on the new tyres. Rosenqvist responded, but it proved to be too late. Light traffic and an average pitstop saw the rookie forced to slam on the brakes as he fed back on to track, with Power taking the position.

The race had seemed like Power’s to win, but both him and Rosenqvist were soon stuck behind the out-of-position Spencer Pigot and Marco Andretti. This left Newgarden up front with clear air. The team told him to stay out burning the Push to Pass.

A slick stop and Sticker Red Tyres (Prime) saw the 28 year old maintain the lead when the order had evened out, using the new rubber to extend his lead while Power and Rosenqvist were on the slower compound.

Dixon had copied the same strategy and as a result, used his extra Push to Pass to close in during the final stint, but ultimately Newgarden had the advantage, coming home for his eleventh career win. Power, during the final pitstops had again sliced in front of Rosenqvist on his exit of the pits, preventing the rookie from collecting memorable silverware.

Newgarden leaves Florida with a thirteen point advantage and continues the Penske legacy around the famous streets.

Rossi would eventually finish a lonely fifth, dropping back from the leaders after his second pit stop. The 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner had failed to prove himself in the same league as the established top four, but remained on pace enough to catch Rosenqvist in the latter stages.

Best of the rest honours went to James Hinchcliffe and Simon Pagenaud. Hinchcliffe had remained in points contention all day, but found himself chased down by Pagenaud in the closing laps as the former-champion fought back from thirteenth after being caught out in the shortened Group 1 qualifying.

Herta meanwhile had been the star-that-never-was in qualifying, eventually starting the race eleventh. Early pitstops stopped him charging through the pack, but away from the hype of Rosenqvist, continued the torch of rookie success stories, crossing the line eighth in just his second race.

He would narrowly beat Santino Ferrucci, whose drive from the last row of the grid to ninth went virtually unnoticed in his debut event. The young American had been unceremoniously dropped from the Haas F1 Team as their reserve and much of the European scene after a set of actions and statements during Silverstone F2 weekend, but started his road to recovery with a quietly impressive Sunday at St. Pete.

Jack Harvey rounded out the top ten as the highest placed British driver, ensuring seven nationalities completed the top ten in what is still primarily an American series.

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