Source: Manufacturer PR

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CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG
ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
TEAM CHEVY RACE REPORT
MARCH 10, 2024

JOSEF NEWGARDEN AND TEAM PENSKE RACE TO THE 112TH WIN FOR CHEVROLET IN THE V6 ERA AT ST. PETERSBURG

Newgarden’s Victory is the Ninth for Chevrolet on the Streets of St. Petersburg, with Team Chevy Sweeping First Through Fourth Positions

• Josef Newgarden and his No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet team captured Chevrolet’s 112th victory of the V6 era since 2012 in dominating fashion, Team Chevy’s ninth in St. Petersburg.
• Leading 92 of the 100 laps in St. Petersburg, Newgarden showcased Chevrolet’s performance both on and off-track, and earned his 30th career NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory.
• Joining Newgarden on the podium, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward (second), and Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin (third), allowed for a sweep of the podium in St. Petersburg, as well as the top-four finishing positions with Team Penske’s Will Power (fourth).
• With the podium sweep, Chevrolet earned their 311th podium finish in the V6 era since 2012.
• Saturday’s qualifying session saw Newgarden topping the charts with his fastest lap of 59.5714 seconds, earning Chevrolet’s ninth NTT P1 Pole Award on the Streets of St. Petersburg since 2012, the 129th in the V6 era, and Newgarden’s 17th career pole award.
• Race day started with a 30-minute warm-up session, with Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin (fourth) and Josef Newgarden (fifth), Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward (seventh), and Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Romain Grosjean (ninth) representing Chevrolet in the top-10.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (March 10, 2024) – Josef Newgarden, in his No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet, showcased a strong performance in the 20th Firestone Grand Prix of St. Peterburg, racing to Chevrolet’s 112th win in the 2.2-liter twin turbo direct injected V6 era since 2012, and ninth at St. Petersburg.

After capturing the NTT P1 Pole Award Saturday for Team Penske and Team Chevy, Newgarden led 92 laps of the 100 laps in a relatively clean, green flag race to take the checkered flag in exciting fashion.

“I had a lot of fun today. Roger (Penske) was telling me, ‘You have a big lead. You better hold on to it and not throw it into the wall.’ I think it’s so deserving for the work (Team Penske) put in. I know intimately what’s been put into this program in the offseason. It’s Team Chevy, everything they brought this weekend, and then our team specifically, we worked really hard to close the gap. We didn’t have the speed we needed on road and street courses last year and I think, at least on a consistency basis, and today we brought that speed. We had the execution, as always, exactly what you expect from Team Penske.”

“Congratulations to Josef Newgarden and the No. 2 PPG Chevrolet team on their win in St. Petersburg, said Jim Campbell, General Motors U.S. Vice President of Performance and Motorsports. “We’re really proud of the teamwork by Team Penske in the offseason, along with our Chevrolet engineers. It’s great to see Chevrolet drivers Pato O’Ward from Arrow McLaren and Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske sweep the podium with Josef.”

Also showcasing his talent and the strength of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet team, as well as teamwork with Chevrolet, Pato O’Ward joined Newgarden on the podium in St. Petersburg finishing second.

“It’s always good to be here in St. Pete,” said O’Ward. “I think it’s a phenomenal place to start the season, and we’ve laid ourselves a pretty strong foundation for the rest of the year, so super stoked for that. Super proud of our friends at Team Chevy, Arrow McLaren. They went to work this offseason, and it’s been fantastic to see the gains we’ve made. We’re just going to keep on pushing.”

“Team Penske were just really, really strong today,” continued O’Ward. “They were obviously the guys to beat. They ended first, third, and fourth. I’m happy that we could maintain ourselves there. I wouldn’t say it was the easiest of laps keeping (Scott) McLaughlin and (Will) Power behind me. It’s such a tough track to pass where I just knew if I didn’t make mistakes, I’d be alright.”

Making moves as the laps wound down, Newgarden’s Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin showcased his race craft to navigate traffic, claiming the third step on the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg podium. With the sweep, Chevrolet now has 311 podium finishes in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES since 2012.

“Great day for the DEX Imaging Chevy,” said McLaughlin. “We were really super strong, but I’m really proud of the whole team. The 2 getting the win (Josef Newgarden). Well done to those guys and girls on the team. And then you’ve got with us in third and (Will in) fourth. Me and Will (Power) were pretty bummed after qualifying yesterday. We really had cars to put in the Fast Six. Glad we were able to bring it up to the front and get both podiums. We’re getting close to one-two-three podium for the Penske team, so we’re strong for that.”

“We asked a lot (from Chevrolet) from day one last year, and they’ve come back with something really, really strong,” continued McLaughlin. “Really proud of them. Proud to get a really strong result for them. I think it was one to four. Super strong. That’s great to work with a manufacturer who wants to listen to you and keep working, wants to keep developing, and that’s exactly what we need.”

Adding to the strong performance in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Chevrolet finished with six cars in the top-10, including Will Power with Team Penske in fourth, Alexander Rossi with Arrow McLaren in eighth, and Rinus VeeKay with Ed Carpenter Racing (10th).

The NTT INDYCAR SERIES next heads west to Thermal Club near Palm Springs, Calif. for the $1 Million Challenge March 22-24, 2024. A new and unique non-championship points All-Star event, the race airs live on NBC Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET.

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 RACE RESULTS:
1st Josef Newgarden
2nd Pato O’Ward
3rd Scott McLaughlin
4th Will Power
8th Alexander Rossi
10th Rinus VeeKay

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (Quotes):
Will Power, No. 12 Chevrolet at Team Penske:
HOW IS IT TO START THE SEASON KNOWING YOUR TEAM COMES OUT OF THE GATE STRONG?
“We kind of expected it. Lot of improvements in the offseason, the Chevy engine is really good and there was a lot of work also on the car. So, it was fun at the end and obviously we could push him. A lot of fuel save there at the beginning and the yellow fell at an unfortunate time which made it a bit more of a follow the leader sort of race. If it was extended by 10 laps like it used to be, then you would have a very big fuel window for the race.”

WAS FUEL SAVE ONE OF THE BIGGEST COMPONENTS FOR YOU DURING THAT RACE?
“Yeah, massively. Like as soon as I got in line at the start, I just tuned it down and sat back and saved fuel. I was just expecting it to go long and that was the only way you were going to pass, After about 10 laps you are like, ‘come on, something happen’. It’s good stuff and it’s a competitive field, no one makes mistakes, it’s a competitive field, and it’s an ultra-competitive situation and hard to pass.”

Callum Ilott, No. 6 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren:
“It wasn’t a bad race. Starting 16th, we chipped away a little bit. I think we struggled a little bit in the first stint, everyone was quite processional, but we had a good car. Once we put the Firestone Alternate tires on, we definitely had a bit more pace and it was a shame we couldn’t quite unlock it with the way traffic worked out. Then we tried to gamble pitting earlier for the final stint, and it almost paid off but didn’t quite get through. There was a lot of fuel save at the end. Arrow McLaren did a great job with the car; it was fast.”

“Honestly, it’s a shame we didn’t get a bit more out of it. Pato in P2 and Alexander in P8, so I think it was good that we could all move forward, and the No. 6 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet was quick this weekend and we can all come away happy with some points.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren:
“It’s always going to be very hard from 15th, but I think the team did a great job maximizing what we could. We knew we had a fast car all weekend, and that was the case in the race. We had a good strategy, great pit stops. That’s really all you can do on days like this, kind of damage control. Obviously, it was a good day for the team with Pato on the podium, and we will learn from our mistakes this weekend and look forward to the next one.”

Christian Rasmussen, No. 20 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:
“First NTT INDYCAR SERIES race under my belt. It was a long race, definitely one of harder ones I have done in my career I will say! With this being the first race of the season, I think it’s known as being one of the hardest for everyone. I hung in there, it was tough with the clutch issues but we just tried to do the best we could. We went a lap down but tried to maximize it, I worked hard to be the first car one lap down. Obviously not where we want to be, but considering the issues we worked through, it’s an okay result!”

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:
“I am pretty happy with today’s race, but it is a bit unfortunate to finish lower than where to started! We fought hard out there, and I think I drove a smart race. I am pretty happy with everything, with my car and the performance. Unfortunately, we couldn’t really hang on with the green Firestone Firehawks and had quite a bit of drop off at the end. We have some work to do, but we got a top-10 to start the season! It was tough to get top-10s last year and now we’ve started 2024 with one! A good start to the year, I am proud of my guys. Ready to go win a million dollars at The Thermal Club in a few weeks!”

Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:
“Obviously a fantastic race day for us. You know, this event was a little bit more of a qualifying race than it was anything else and starting 14th, we avoided some good carnage early, and moved up a couple of positions. First stop, there was a little bit of a hiccup, lost a couple there, but we made them back. And we just kind of did our own thing. We were in a big fuel save like everybody else. You know, we made it work. We stayed clean. We didn’t touch another car. We didn’t touch the walls all day. And we had a really clean green flag stop. Had a solid restart and we picked up a couple more positions. It was solid way to start the season with the Sexton Properties Chevrolet!”

Sting Ray Robb, No. 41 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:
“It was a tough day today. The start was not great, but once we settled in, I think that we had better pace than the guys in front of us. And on the first pitstop we made up a couple of spots, which was really good by the crew. We went on a different strategy from the guys in front of us so I think that we were just going to keep moving forward. After the restart, we gained a position, but then we had a brake failure. It’s something I think we’ve been struggling with through the year so far, just getting the brakes too hot. So it’s something to look at. I think that’ll be a little project that we get to do before the next race but for the most part, I think that we’re still heads up. We have a good car and I think that Santino’s performance today showed that we’re capable of doing a lot better than what we did and we’re looking forward to the next one with the Pray.com Chevrolet.”

Romain Grosjean, No. 77 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:
“First race of the season done. I think there’s a lot of positives from the weekend. Our race pace was really strong, so I’m excited about it. We had to retire the car for a mechanical issue, but really good job from all the team, Chevy, everyone, and I’m excited for the future.”

Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:
“We finished in St. Pete P18. We were battling for top-14, top-15, but unfortunately I made a mistake trying to overtake. I went wide a little bit, and I lost four or five positions. It’s part of the racing, but the good thing is we were competitive. We were on a good pace. We need to continue our improvement with pit stops, the fuel numbers, everything with the team. We’re still new, still growing, but I’m happy with our pace this weekend. It’s a good way to start, we’ll take some points, and focus on the next.”