SCOTT McLaughlin has started off his IndyCar season strongly, with a second-place finish on the streets of St Petersburg.

After winning the past three successive titles, Alex Palou resumed normal business with a comfortable win.

After finishing third in the standings in both 2023 and ’24, McLaughlin this season is looking to bounce back from a tough ninth-place final placing from last year.

The result is his third straight podium after finishing third in both Milwaukee and Nashville to round out last year.

Starting from the 11th pole position of his career, his first since the corresponding race last year, the Kiwi led the field away, with a multi-car incident at turn four on lap 1 of 100 bringing out the first caution of the day.

That incident involved debutant Mick Schumacher, plus Santino Ferrucci and Sting Ray Robb.

Will Power’s Team Penske replacement, David Malukas, suffered a tyre drama early, while Power himself slapped the wall returning to the airfield section of the circuit, retiring mid-race.

It was Power’s second incident for the weekend for his new Andretti Global squad.

Scott Dixon’s tough weekend ended when his Dallara lost a wheel, bringing out the yellow flags. Earlier in the preliminaries, the Kiwi smote the wall head-on but was uninjured.

Following a round of pit stops, McLaughlin became engaged in a battle with Marcus Ericsson, with the pair settling behind Alex Palou on the road.

McLaughlin then lost a spot when Kyle Kirkwood swept around the outside at turn 4, while Christian Lundgaard made moves into the top three.

Following the final stop, Kirkwood used the undercut to move past McLaughlin in an identical move, but positions were quickly reversed at turn 10, with Lundgaard also blasting past Kirkwood.

At the finish, it was Palou by a clear 12 seconds over McLaughlin, Lundgaard, Kirkwood, Pato O’Ward, Ericsson, Josef Newgarden, Romain Grosjean and Rinus Veekay, with Dennis Hauger rounding out the top ten.

Next week, IndyCar heads west to Phoenix, where the class will run alongside the NASCAR Cup Series.

2010 Japanese driver Ryo Orime’s V8 Ute Crash at Sydney Olympic Park

Japanese driver Ryo Orime’s race debut in the Aussie V8 Ute series only lasted half a lap before this massive pile-up in 2010 when he fell victim to the tough Sydney Olympic Park street circuit.