Defending NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou in the No.10 DHL Honda kicked off his 2025 season in style, taking victory in Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg presented by RP Funding, picking up where he left off at the end of the 2024 season.
He started the race from eighth place but took the lead from his teammate, Scott Dixon, in the No.9 PNC Bank Honda on lap 74 after the Iceman pitted a lap before Palou. Dixon soon lost second place to Josef Newgarden in the No.2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet. However, on the last lap of the 100-lap race, Dixon reclaimed second place to give Chip Ganassi Racing their first 1-2 finish since 2023.
Speaking following the race, Palou said:
What an amazing job by everybody. “They gave me everything we needed this weekend to win. I told you yesterday we had a really, really fast car.
“Our strategy changed a lot during that first yellow, but I’m so glad we got that No. 10 in Victory Lane. It’s been 138 days since Nashville (2024 season finale), and I’ve been dreaming about this every single night.”
Dixon says that the No.9 PNC Bank team was flying blind as he had no radio during the entire race. Speaking following the event he said:
“We were just kind of flying blind out there. “Ultimately, I think they were trying to call me in because on that last lap we had before we pitted, there was just so much traffic, and we lost two or three seconds. That’s where the 10 car got us.”
Palou spoke about Dixon saying:
I think he (Dixon) got trapped in traffic a little bit. That’s why the 10 stand decided to pit a little bit early. We had a really clean out lap, could run fast and just opened a gap from there.”
Josef Newgarden in the No.2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet started the race from 10th place and came home in third place just ahead of pole-sitter Scott McLaughlin in the No.3 DEX Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet with the New Zealander leaving St Pete disappointed having failed to repeat his win here in 2022. Speaking following the race, McLaughlin said:
The yellow on the first lap really hurt us, but we knew going in, that was the risk of running the black tire. We wanted a solid race, and I thought the risky strategy was starting on the green. Ultimately it was the other way around but we had great pace today and I’m really proud of everyone. We were ultimately a pit stop behind, but we knew that was the risk of running the blacks. I think if there was no yellow first lap, we’re gone. It is what it is. Great day for the DEX Imaging Chevy. Good points. Great start to the year. A pole and a fourth, I can’t be unhappy with that.”
The caution that McLaughlin was referring to came on lap 1 of the race following an incident involving his teammate, Will Power in the No.12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet who came together with Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Louis Foster. Speaking following the race, Power said:
Just really close racing there in the middle of the pack and we got checked up super quick. Got into the back of the 6 car which was my fault and obviously not intentional. Normally that corner opens up a bit there, so I need to go back and look at that. Not much I could do after that contact with the 45 car behind me. Just hate to start the season this way. We’ve been strong starters the last few years with the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet. Looking forward to Thermal and the points race there.”
It was a great day for Kyle Kirkwood in the No.27 Chili’s Honda as he ended the race in fifth just ahead of his teammate Marcus Ericsson.
Felix Rosenqvist showed that Meyer Shank Racing could be a force to be reckoned with in 2025 as he came home in seventh following a third-place start.
Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard was eighth just ahead of Rinus VeeKay who, in his first race for Dale Coyne Racing gave the team a top ten finish.
Alexander Rossi started the race from 20th and came through the field to round out the top ten and speaking following the action the 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner said:
“It was always going to be hard starting from 20th. We came in P2 on the strategy that we chose, which was starting on the primary tire. We steadily improved the car all weekend and from a strategy standpoint, we executed really well. That’s about all we could get out of it, but the weekend overall was positive. We’ll take the momentum and try to keep learning.”
Pato O’Ward came from 23rd place to finish in 11th for Arrow McLaren.
Graham Rahal was 12th for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and speaking following the race he said:
It was a good race overall for the Fifth Third Bank team; we came a long way forward. We just barely got beat out of the pits by Pato and then Rossi. I kind of wished I could have just dive bombed him (Rossi) and forced the issue a little more, but I tried to play it smart and not take us both out. He was blocking and I didn’t really want to ruin two (drivers) days. In the end, it was a solid day for us and the team. There were also good, solid stops for the boys. We soldier on now and focus on Thermal.”
It was a great race for AJ Foyt Racing as in his first event for the team, David Malukas came home in 13th giving the team a great foundation to build on. Speaking following the race he said:
Overall, a lot of positives to take out of that race. Very good race for us. We had a little issue with the pit stop at the end there that took us out of the top-10. Overall, our race was incredible. We just kept going forward. The green tires, which was a big question mark for all the drivers on it having a lot of pace. I think, for us we managed to do a full stint and even did an extra few laps. The car was really good. The team is doing a good job. To start off the first race like that, to capitalize on my mistakes from quali, we finished off with a P13. It’s a very good, decent result to start the season off and looking for better results to come.”
Santino Ferrucci in the No.14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet came home in 14th and speaking following the race he said:
Solid first weekend back. Wished the result was a little bit better for us. I think we were just struggling with the balance all weekend, and getting a bunch of things sorted. Qualifying kind of hurt us with the electrical problem, but that’s also nobody’s fault. That was just a freak. Just keep on learning from this event, and a lot of notes to be taken and move forward to Thermal. My guys gave me good pitstops even though I went long on the first and short on the second. They adjusted for those so we didn’t lose time. Third time was the charm as I got it right, so everyone was on point.”
Christian Rasmussen was 15th just ahead of Colton Herta and Conor Daly.
Kyffin Simpson was 18th just ahead of PREMA Racing’s Callum Ilott and Robert Shwartzman.
Speaking following the race, Ilott said:
It was a solid first race from us today. There were no big mistakes on anyone’s side, aside from a little one I had at Turn 10 which I recovered from pretty quickly. We were P19 and P20 for the team, on the lead lap, which I think is a good start. We have some areas where we can work on, but overall the pace was pretty good. We chose to start on the primaries, and with the crash at the start we were put at a bit of a disadvantage by having to do a longer stint on the alternates than the other strategy. I think in a different circumstance with this strategy we could have been a bit higher up but we can’t complain at all. We had good pace when we were fighting with the others. I’m really happy in general. We will debrief and work on lots of things to take to Thermal.
Speaking following his debut INDYCAR race, Robert Shwartzman said:
This is the first race and we didn’t have particularly high expectations today, but I think we maximized most of it. Today, we did what we could but, again, we had an issue with communication. That compromised the whole strategy. I was basically left more or less on my own figuring things out, which was a bit difficult because it’s our first time here. I didn’t know a lot of things that were going on. I think we could have done a bit better in terms of position, but I tried my best out there and that is the most important thing. We will all now work really hard in the three weeks we have before the next race, taking the learnings from this weekend.”
Sting Ray Robb was 21st in his first race for Juncos Hollinger Racing but was able to keep race leader Alex Palou for a number of laps which allowed Josef Newgarden to close the gap to the Spaniard and for Scott Dixon to close to less than a second to Newgarden and take second place on the last lap.
Devlin DeFrancesco came home in 22nd on his return to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
In his first INDYCAR race with Dale Coyne Racing, Jacob Abel in the No.51 Abel Construction Honda came home in 23rd place.
Marcus Armstrong was forced to retire from the race following contact.
Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel, Team Penske’s Will Power and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing rookie Louis Foster brought out the only caution of the race on the opening lap of the race.
The next race is the Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix on March 23.