Chip Ganassi Racing’s six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Scott Dixon, driver of the NO.9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda says that it is always great to kick off the new season at the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg presented by RP Funding after the Iceman set the fastest time in the opening practice session of the season having set a fastest time of 01:01:6154s. Speaking following the action, Dixon said:
“It’s always fantastic to be kicking off the season here in St. Pete. We ran a long session in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda, an hour and fifteen minutes, which was good. A couple sets of tires for the field, and ended up on top which was a nice way to start the weekend. The tough part now, just trying to stay there.”
It was a great session for the 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou in the No.10 The American Legion Honda as he ended the day in third place with a time of 01:01.6790s and speaking following the action the Spaniard said:
“First practice of the year, and it felt good to be back in the car, back with the team. It was a good day and start to the weekend. There were a lot of new bumps in the track that we need to sort out with the car set-up, but so far, so good. We started with a really strong base in the top-5 with a couple cars. This is going to be a really good weekend for The American Legion team.”
NTT INDYCAR SERIES rookie Marcus Armstrong, driver of the No.11 Ridgeline Lubricants Honda, had a great opening practice session of his fledgling career, ending the session in ninth place with a time of 01:01.9444s and speaking following the action, the New Zealander said:
“It was pretty chaotic out there. It’s certainly a slippery track and I won’t lie, I was pretty surprised about that with the grip level. But, we got there in the end amongst the top drivers. I think I was a bit ambitious with a couple of things that I asked for, but nevertheless, we’re in the right ballpark. This weekend is going to be a good one.”
Defending Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson in the No.8 Huski Chocolate Honda ended the day in P13 with a time of 01:02.0733s and speaking following the action the Swede said:
“It was a very positive session for the team here in St. Petersburg. The Huski Chocolate Honda was very good. I felt we made some good steps over the winter. We went through the test program well and in the end there, decided to save a set of tires for tomorrow. We didn’t run new tires at the end of the session, which put us back a bit, but we feel confident tomorrow. It was a very positive day today.”