{"id":173801,"date":"2026-03-01T12:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T12:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/173801\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T12:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T12:17:08","slug":"indycar-kicks-off-in-st-petersburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/173801\/","title":{"rendered":"IndyCar kicks off in St. Petersburg"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"INDYCAR\"<\/a><\/p>\n

McLaughlin Grabs the Pole on the Streets of St. Pete as IndyCar beings 2026<\/p>\n

Scott McLaughlin will lead the field to green for the IndyCar Series season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg<\/a>, Florida. He put together the fastest lap in qualifying and locked down the pole for the 100-lap race on the tight 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit.<\/p>\n

Marcus Ericsson joins him on the front row after a strong qualifying run of his own. It\u2019s a solid way to begin the season for Ericsson, who looks ready to contend right out of the gate.\u2019<\/p>\n

The surprise of the session belonged to rookie Dennis Hauger. In his first IndyCar qualifying attempt, Hauger delivered a composed and aggressive lap that puts him third on the grid. That\u2019s a statement performance for a newcomer making his debut on a demanding street course.<\/p>\n

Alex Palou, chasing his fourth straight drivers\u2019 championship and looking for back-to-back wins at St. Petersburg, will roll off fourth. Starting on the second row keeps him well within striking distance once the green flag drops.<\/p>\n

You can watch the qualifying highlights HERE<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Starting Grid<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the field lines up for Sunday\u2019s race:<\/p>\n

Row 1<\/p>\n

Scott McLaughlin<\/p>\n

Marcus Ericsson<\/p>\n

Row 2
3. Dennis Hauger
4. Alex Palou<\/p>\n

Row 3
5. David Malukas
6. Romain Grosjean<\/p>\n

Row 4
7. Marcus Armstrong
8. Pato O\u2019Ward<\/p>\n

Row 5
9. Louis Foster
10. Kyffin Simpson<\/p>\n

Row 6
11. Felix Rosenqvist
12. Christian Lundgaard<\/p>\n

Row 7
13. Will Power<\/a>
14. Christian Rasmussen<\/p>\n

Row 8
15. Kyle Kirkwood
16. Scott Dixon<\/p>\n

Row 9
17. Santino Ferrucci
18. Graham Rahal<\/p>\n

Row 10
19. Rinus VeeKay
20. Sting Ray Robb<\/p>\n

Row 11
21. Mick Schumacher
22. Nolan Siegel<\/p>\n

Row 12
23. Josef Newgarden
24. Caio Collet<\/p>\n

Row 13
25. Alexander Rossi<\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty of talent scattered throughout this lineup. Veterans like Dixon, Power and Newgarden will have work to do from mid-pack and deeper, while several young drivers have a chance to capitalize on strong starting spots.<\/p>\n

Race Day Schedule<\/p>\n

Sunday, March 1 (All times ET)<\/p>\n

9:00 a.m. \u2013 IndyCar warmup (FS1)
Noon \u2013 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (Fox)
Green flag scheduled for 12:29 p.m.<\/p>\n

Street races are rarely predictable, especially in a season opener. Track position matters, strategy plays a role, and one well-timed caution can flip the script. McLaughlin has the advantage at the front, but 100 laps around St. Pete usually tell a much bigger story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McLaughlin Grabs the Pole on the Streets of St. Pete as IndyCar beings 2026 Scott McLaughlin will lead…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[79537,79539,80654,82492,82493,16091,82494,79536,72187,81769,79538,80152,79532,202,204,203,199,201,200,82495,79534],"class_list":{"0":"post-173801","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-alex-palou","9":"tag-dennis-hauger","10":"tag-firestone-grand-prix-of-st-petersburg","11":"tag-indycar-qualifying","12":"tag-indycar-season-opener","13":"tag-indycar-series","14":"tag-indycar-starting-grid","15":"tag-josef-newgarden","16":"tag-marcus-ericsson","17":"tag-open-wheel-racing","18":"tag-pato-oward","19":"tag-scott-dixon","20":"tag-scott-mclaughlin","21":"tag-st-pete","22":"tag-st-pete-headlines","23":"tag-st-pete-news","24":"tag-st-petersburg","25":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","26":"tag-st-petersburg-news","27":"tag-st-petersburg-street-circuit","28":"tag-will-power"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}