During Friday’s practice session, Swedish driver Felix Rosenqvist showcased impressive performance on the softer alternate tires, clocking a formidable lap time of 1m00.3390s around the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit. This propelled him to the top of the leaderboard in the final segment of the session.
Rosenqvist’s switch from Arrow McLaren to MSR over the offseason evidently paid off, as he outpaced his former teammate Pato O’Ward by a significant margin of 0.4722s.
The practice session in St. Petersburg adopted a unique format, with the field divided into two groups for the opening 75-minute session. Initially, there was a 20-minute session involving all cars, followed by two 10-minute segments for each group, alternated based on odd and even numbered pit boxes. Similar to qualifying, red flag conditions paused the clock for each segment.
Marcus Armstrong of Chip Ganassi Racing secured the third position, trailing Rosenqvist by 0.4792s. Will Power from Team Penske claimed fourth place, posting a time 0.5019s behind the leader.
Rinus Veekay exhibited promising pace early on in the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, finishing fifth, 0.5458s adrift. Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske), Romain Grosjean (Juncos Hollinger Racing), and Colton Herta (Andretti Global) secured the sixth to eighth positions, respectively.
Defending IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou placed ninth in his No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Callum Ilott, substituting for the injured David Malukas, rounded off the top ten with the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
The practice session witnessed three red flag incidents, all occurring at Turn 10. Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Kyffin Simpson caused the first red flag when he locked up and became stranded in the runoff with approximately seven minutes remaining in the second segment. Shortly after, Pietro Fittipaldi (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) faced a similar fate, prompting a second red flag.
The final red flag occurred in the last two minutes of practice when Santino Ferrucci also missed the corner. However, the session resumed under green conditions shortly afterward, allowing teams to conclude their preparations without further interruption.
