St. Pete IndyCar: Newgarden heads Penske-Chevy 1-2

After several minutes were lost when the data system went down, the session got underway with rookies Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske-Chevrolet), Jimmie Johnson (Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda), Romain Grosjean (Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda) heading out first.

But it was Andretti Autosport-Honda’s Alexander Rossi who was first to break into the 60sec bracket with a 60.8653sec.

Teammate Colton Herta responded by snipping just 0.03sec off that lap, with nine-time St. Petersburg polesitter Will Power lowering the barrier by a further 0.02sec.

Felix Rosenqvist’s progress was hampered by a technical issue in the #7 Arrow McLaren SP-Chevy, and when he got underway he had a little outbraking himself moment down the Turn 7 escape road.

Grosjean also had to retrieve himself from the Turn 10 runoff.

Josef Newgarden, who has won the last two races at St. Pete, sprung to the top with a 60.8029sec with 11mins to go.

It’s hard to get [tire] temperature, on the first initial laps,” said the two-time IndyCar champion. “It’s what most are going to struggle with this weekend. But I expect we'll get more grip the more we run."

However, Sebastien Bourdais caused a brief red when he slithered down the Turn 10 runoff with under three minutes left, and then stalled as he tried to rejoin.

That left no time for improvements, leaving the top runners incredibly close – the Top 15 covered by just half a second.

Noteworthy was the fact that all four Team Penske cars were in the top eight, Scott Dixon reestablished himself as Ganassi’s unofficial team leader as Barber winner Alex Palou was in 20^th, and Rosenqvist bounced back from his earlier issues to edge teammate and Barber polesitter Pato O’Ward.

Johnson was 2.3288sec off the pace but only a couple of tenths behind the more experienced Kellett, although the Foyt driver has not competed in an IndyCar at this track before.

Grosjean was 19^th, 0.8sec from the top.

Second practice begins at 9.45am local (Eastern) time tomorrow.

Practice results: