Teammate Filippi Will Start Inside of Row 10 In First Race In St. Petersburg
(ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.) March 28, 2015 – Qualifying Notes

  • Josef Newgarden will start the No. 67 Hartman Oil Chevrolet from the 10th position in tomorrow’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, held in the downtown streets of the Florida city.
  • Newgarden finished Round 1, Group 1 qualifying with the 5th quickest time, advancing him to Round 2 to compete as part of the 12 fastest cars in the 24-car field.
  • This marks Newgarden’s best starting position in four events in St. Petersburg. The Nashville, Tenn. native’s previous best start was 16th in 2013.
  • Luca Filippi will start 19th in the 110-lap event in the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet.
  • This will be Filippi’s first race around the 1.8 mile, 14-turn temporary street course. The Italian will be also be making his first start for CFH Racing.
  • Newgarden made his Verizon IndyCar Series debut in St. Petersburg in 2012,starting 19th and finishing 11th.
  • Tomorrow’s event will be the first race for the team under the CFH Racing banner. The team was formed over the offseason by the integration of Ed Carpenter Racing and Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing.
  • The 2015 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be broadcast live on ABC at 3 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, March 29.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 67 HARTMAN OIL CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 10TH: “I am relatively happy with our starting position. You’re on the front end of the grid with that, with 24 cars and starting in the top 10 is always good around this place. This is generally a very difficult place on tires, so the farther up you are at the start the better. We’re going to have to look after them tomorrow. I think we’re kind of burning off our rears a little bit too quick, so in the morning warm up we’re going to have to make our tires live. It’s such a long race, you have to be able to maximize the life of the tires or people will sneak up behind you in the hairpin and dive bomb you into Turn 1. As far as today, we struggled in the practice earlier and we made a huge leap forward in qualifying. Now, we’re running in the top 10. We need to work our way forward a little bit more to make it into the top five and hopefully challenge the top guys up front.”

LUCA FILIPPI, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 19TH: “The lap times were very close and I felt good in the car, especially the last few laps. I thought we were doing quite well, but actually the times were so tight I missed the first cut and did not make it to Round 2. We ran the first few laps on used tires and I didn’t have a good read on the condition. Tomorrow is a long race; we’ll think about the strategy and try to get the best out of it. I think we will be strong for the longer runs.”

Josef Newgarden had his best qualifying session to date at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, earning a 10th place starting position for tomorrow’s race.

Luca Filippi will start the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg from the 19th position. Tomorrow’sevent will be Filippi’s first start at St. Petersburg and first start with CFH Racing.