RESEND – Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Fast Facts

This version corrects weekend schedule!

Race weekend: Friday, Feb. 25 – Sunday, Feb. 27

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

Media Links: NTT INDYCAR SERIES Entry List (PDF) | Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires Entry List(PDF)

Race distance: 100 laps / 180 miles (NTT INDYCAR SERIES) | 60 minute timed race (Indy Lights)

Push-to-pass parameters (NTT INDYCAR SERIES): 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

Firestone tire allotment (NTT INDYCAR SERIES): Six sets primary, four sets alternate. One additional set is available to rookie drivers for use in the Friday afternoon practice session

Twitter: @GPSTPETE, @INDYCAR, @IndyLights #FirestoneGP, #INDYCAR

Event website: www.gpstpete.com

INDYCAR website: www.indycar.com

2021 race winner: Colton Herta, 1:51:51.4115, 96.552 mph

2021 NTT P1 Award winner: Colton Herta, 1:00.3210, 107.425 mph

Qualifying lap record: Jordan King, 1:00.0476; 107.914 mph, March 10, 2018 (set in Round 1 of qualifying)

NBC Sports telecast: Race, noon ET Sunday, NBC (live). Leigh Diffey is the play-by-play announcer for NBC’s coverage of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, alongside analysts Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe. Marty Snider, Kevin Lee and Dave Burns are the pit reporters. Spanish-language telecast will be available on Telemundo.

Peacock Premium Live Streaming: All NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice sessions and qualifying and Indy Lights races will stream live on Peacock Premium, NBC’s direct-to-consumer livestreaming product.

INDYCAR Radio Network broadcasts: Mark Jaynes is the chief announcer alongside analyst Davey Hamilton. Nick Yeoman, Jake Query and Michael Young are the turn announcers. Ryan Myrehn and Alex Wollf are the pit reporters The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg race and all NTT INDYCAR SERIES practices and qualifying sessions air live on network affiliates, SiriusXM 160, racecontrol.indycar.com and the INDYCAR App powered by NTT DATA. All Indy Lights practice and qualifying sessions and races are available on racecontrol.indycar.com, the INDYCAR App and SiriusXM 160.

At-track schedule (All Times Local/Eastern Time): 

Friday, Feb. 25

10:05-10:50 a.m. –  Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires practice

3:40-4:25 p.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice, Peacock Premium

1:40-2:10 p.m. –  Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires qualifying

5:40-6:10 p.m. – Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires practice

Saturday, Feb. 26

9-9:45 a.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice, Peacock Premium

12:30-1:45 p.m. – Qualifying for the NTT P1 Award (three rounds of knockout qualifying), Peacock Premium (Live)

Sunday, Feb. 27

8:45-9:15 a.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES warmup, Peacock Premium

9:30 a.m. – Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (60 minutes), Peacock Premium (Live)

Noon – NBC Sports on air

12:23 p.m. – “Drivers, start your engines”

12:30 p.m. – Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding (100 laps / 181 miles), NBC, Telemundo and Peacock Premium (Live)

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Notes:

  • The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding will be the 19th INDYCAR SERIES race on the streets of St. Petersburg, dating to 2003. Colton Herta won the 2021 race after starting from the pole position. Paul Tracy won the inaugural race on Feb. 23, 2003, under CART sanction, while Sebastien Bourdais started from the pole that year.
  • The St. Petersburg INDYCAR race has been run every year since 2003 except for 2004. No driver has competed in every St. Petersburg race, but Scott Dixon has started 17 consecutive races.
  • Herta can continue a streak of back-to-back race winners at St. Petersburg that began in 2015. Juan Pablo Montoya won back-to-back St. Petersburg races in 2015 and 2016, while Sebastien Bourdais won in 2017 and 2018. Josef Newgarden won back-to-back in 2019 and 2020.
  • Dixon seeks his first win on the streets of St. Petersburg. Dixon’s six NTT INDYCAR SERIES championships trail only the seven INDYCAR SERIES titles collected by A.J. Foyt. Dixon is third on the all-time INDYCAR SERIES victory list with 51 wins and can tie Mario Andretti for second with his next win, but has never won at St. Petersburg. He has four runner-up finishes at the circuit.
  • Helio Castroneves (2006, 2007 and 2012), Will Power (2010 and 2014) and Josef Newgarden (2019-2020) are the only entered drivers to win at St. Petersburg more than once. Five past winners are entered: Castroneves, Power, Newgarden, Graham Rahal (2008) and Herta.
  • Team Penske has won the pole position 10 of the past 15 St. Petersburg races, including nine of the last 12 poles by Power. Along with Power, previous pole winners Rahal (2009), Takuma Sato (2014) and Herta are entered this weekend.
  • Team Penske has won at St. Petersburg 10 times, including six of the last 10 races with Castroneves (2012), Power (2014), Montoya (2015-16) and Newgarden (2019-2020).
  • Three drivers have won the race from the pole – Castroneves (2007), Power (2010) and Herta (2021). The St. Petersburg winner has qualified fourth in four of the last nine seasons.
  • Dixon has made 288 consecutive starts heading into the weekend, which is the second-longest streak in INDYCAR SERIES history.
  • Jack Harvey will make his 50th INDYCAR SERIES start at St. Petersburg.
  • Rookies Tatiana CalderonDevlin DeFrancescoKyle Kirkwood and David Malukas will make their NTT INDYCAR SERIES debut at St. Petersburg.

Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires Notes:

  • The 14-car field for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is the largest Indy Lights field at St. Petersburg since 2017.
  • The 2021 season features a deep and talented field with race winners such as Linus Lundqvist and Matt Brabham joining a promising rookie class that includes Christian Rasmussen (Indy Pro 2000 champ), Hunter McElrea (Indy Pro 2000), Kyffin Simpson (Formula Regional Americas champion) and Ernie Francis Jr. (seven-time Trans Am champion/Formula Regional Americas). Other contenders include returning drivers Danial FrostSting Ray Robb and Benjamin Pedersen.
  • Three new teams have joined the series for 2022, TJ Speed Motorsports, led by Indy Lights championship-winning engineer Tim Neff, Road to Indy stalwart Abel Motorsports and African-American-led Force Indy.
  • Since 2005, the driver who won at least one of the races at St. Petersburg has gone on to win the Indy Lights title six times, including Kyle Kirkwood, who won the first race of the doubleheader in 2021.