Firestone GP of St. Petersburg

Event date: Friday, Apr. 23 – Sunday, Apr. 25

Track: 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit (clockwise) through downtown St. Petersburg, FL, plus runway of Albert Whitted Airport.

Race distance: 100 laps (181 miles)

Firestone tire allotment: Six sets primary, four sets alternate, one additional set available for rookies for use in first practice.

Push-to-pass parameters: 150 seconds of total time with a maximum single duration of 15 seconds. The push-to-pass is not available on the initial start or any restart unless it occurs in the final two laps or three minutes of a timed race.

At-track IndyCar schedule (local/Eastern Time) and broadcast details

Friday, Apr. 23

4.15-5.00pm – First practice – Peacock Premium

Saturday, Apr. 24

9.45-10.30am – Second practice – Peacock Premium
1.45-3.00pm – Qualifying – Peacock Premium
10pm – Qualifying – NBCSN

Sunday, Apr. 25

9.05-9.35am – Warm-up – Peacock Premium
12.00pm – Pre-race – NBC Sports, NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app
12.35pm – “Drivers, start your engines” – NBC, NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app
12.42pm – Green flag: Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg – NBC, NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app

*For full on-track schedule, click here

Leigh Diffey is the announcer alongside analyst Townsend Bell.

IndyCar Radio Network broadcasts: Mark Jaynes is the chief announcer alongside analyst Davey Hamilton and Nick Yeoman. Jake Query and Michael Young are the turn announcers. The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg airs live on network affiliates, Sirius 211, XM 205, indycar.com, indycarradio.com and the IndyCar Mobile app powered by NTT DATA. All NTT IndyCar Series practices and qualifying are available on indycar.com and the IndyCar Mobile app, with qualifying also airing on XM 205.

Race Notes

2020 race winner: Josef Newgarden (Team Penske-Chevrolet), 2h06m12.5948s, 85.572mph.

2020 NTT P1 Award winner: Will Power (Team Penske-Chevrolet) 61.0369sec, 106.165mph. 

Qualifying lap record: Jordan King (Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet) 60.0476sec, 107.914mph, March 10, 2018 (set in Round 1 of qualifying)

The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be the 18th Indy car race on the streets of St. Petersburg, dating back to 2003. Josef Newgarden won last year’s race held on the streets of St. Petersburg, which was the championship-deciding race for the first time.

Scott Dixon, despite starting the race 16 times and having 50 wins to his name, is still seeking his first St. Pete win. His best results have been four runner-up finishes.

Power (2010 and ’14), Sebastien Bourdais (2017 and ’18) and  Newgarden (2019 and ’20) are the only entered drivers to win at St. Petersburg more than once, although Helio Castroneves won three times (2006, ’07, ’12), while Juan Pablo Montoya won in 2015 and ’16.

Team Penske has won the pole position 10 of the past 14 St. Petersburg races, including nine of the last 11 poles by Power. Other past pole winners active this weekend include Bourdais (2003), Graham Rahal (2009) and Takuma Sato (2014).

Just two drivers have won the race from pole – Castroneves (’07) and Power (’10).

Team Penske has won at St. Petersburg 10 times, including six of the last nine races with Castroneves (2012), Power (2014), Montoya (2015-16) and Newgarden (2019-2020).

Three drivers will be making their first St. Petersburg starts this weekend – Romain Grosjean (Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda), Jimmie Johnson (Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda) and Dalton Kellett (AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet). Although a rookie, Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske-Chevrolet made his IndyCar debut on this track in last year’s season finale.

Entry list