The NTT IndyCar Series held its second race of the season Sunday afternoon in St. Petersburg, Florida. This is the 18th running of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
The first race was held in 2003 in the Champ Car World Series, with Paul Tracy winning the race. Qualifying took place on Saturday, with Colton Herta winning the pole, followed by Jack Harvey.
Shortly after the green flag waved, cars were scrambling to get to the front as Herta held on to the lead. The first caution came out eighteen laps later when Jimmie Johnson locked up the brakes at turn 13 and made slight contact with the tire wall. No one went to pit road, and the race resumed on lap 21.
Herta remained in the lead for thirteen laps before making his first scheduled pit stop. As pit stops were happening on the track, Takuma Sato and James Hinchcliffe got together at turn one on lap 23, resulting in a flat tire for Hinchcliffe.
Simon Pagenaud led one lap, and Alex Palou led two laps before Herta resumed the lead on lap 38. Josef Newgarden was sitting in second place, and Ryan Hunter-Reay was in third place.
Meanwhile, in the back, Graham Rahal and Alexander Rossi made contact at turn six, with Rossi suffering a flat tire. Herta continued to dominate the race. On lap 68, he made his last scheduled pit stop along with several other drivers, including Josef Newgarden, Jack Harvey, Marcus Ericsson, and Simon Pagenaud.
Jimmie Johnson would bring out another caution on lap 73 after getting loose at turn three, damaging the front wing. Some teams went to pit road during the caution while the leaders stayed out. The race resumed on lap 76. Herta was able to protect the lead heading into turn one. The restart lasted four laps before the caution came out on lap 80 after James Hinchcliffe and Ed Jones made contact at turn four.
Both guys went to pit road while everyone else stayed out. The race resumed on lap 83. No one could get close to Herta, and he would get his first win of the season by 2.4933 seconds over Josef Newgarden. It is the fourth career win for Herta.
The rest of the top ten finishers were Simon Pagenaud third, Jack Harvey fourth, Scott Dixon fifth, Takuma Sato sixth, Marcus Ericsson seventh, Will Power eighth, Rinus VeeKay ninth, and Sebastien Bourdais tenth.
The NTT IndyCar Series now heads to Texas Motor Speedway next Saturday, May 1st, at 7 pm on NBCSN.
