Josef Newgarden cruised to a convincing victory Sunday at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, IndyCar’s season-opening race in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The two-time IndyCar Series champion recorded his 30th career victory in the series after driving his No. 2 Penske Chevrolet to a 7.9121-second win over Mexico’s Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren Racing.
Newgarden, who finished the race in 1 hour, 51 minutes and 29.5954 seconds, also led 92 of 100 laps and turned in the quickest lap to boot.
Newgarden, who started from pole position, pocketed 54 points with the win. He won four races last year, including the Indianapolis 500.
O’Ward (1:51:37.5075) received 40 points for his second-place finish.
Team Penske teammates Scott McLaughlin of New Zealand (1:51:38.0531) and two-time series champion Will Power of Australia (1:51:38.6513) finished third and fourth, respectively. Andretti Global driver Colton Herta (1:51:39.8532) ended up fifth and two-time and reigning series champion Alex Palou of Spain (1:51:41.3990) finished in sixth place.
Defending race champion Marcus Ericsson of Sweden lost power midway through the race and ended up in 25th place in the 27-car field.
–Field Level Media
