Pre-Race Notes: Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES and INDY NXT by Firestone will be laying down fresh rubber this weekend as they kick off the 2025 season at the 21st edition of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.
With a stunning waterfront backdrop and an adrenaline-pumping street circuit, the season-opening event has become a fan-favorite spectacle. As part of this year’s festivities, Firestone announced a three-year extension of its entitlement agreement that began in 2014, which will keep the iconic brand associated with the race through 2028.
General Firestone Notes
- In September 2024, Bridgestone and Penske Entertainment announced a long-term extension for Firestone as the exclusive tire supplier for all INDYCAR-sanctioned racing. Firestone has worked to constantly evolve race tire technology and has been the sole supplier of tires for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES since 2000.
- This summer, Firestone will celebrate the 125th anniversary of its founding in Akron, Ohio, on Aug. 3, 1900.
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Notes
- This weekend’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg starts the third full season that Firestone is providing alternate race tires with sidewalls made with natural rubber sourced from guayule desert shrubs. These tires are marked with a green sidewall and are used at all temporary street course races. It’s one of several initiatives the Firestone Racing team is exploring to help accelerate the use of more sustainable technologies in motorsports.
- The Firestone Race Tire Engineering (RTE) team and nearly 60 expert tire builders will design, develop, and deliver approximately 32,000 Firestone Firehawk race tires for the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. This inventory includes 60 different race tire specifications to meet the extensive and varying demands of the 16 unique oval, road, and street course configurations.
- This weekend Firestone is supplying more than 1,500 race tires to NTT INDYCAR SERIES teams for practices and qualifying on the streets of St. Pete. This includes the Firestone Fast Six and Sunday’s 100-lap (180 miles) race on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn (5 lefts, 9 rights) temporary street circuit that features part of the Albert Whitted Airport runway as its front stretch.
- Firestone Racing provides a real-time tire tracker at Livetiming.net/firestone for media and fans to follow track tire strategies in qualifying and the race. As per INDYCAR rules, each entry must use one set of primary and one set of new (sticker) alternate tires for at least two laps in the race.
Each NTT INDYCAR SERIES entry will receive the following allocation of Firestone Firehawk race tires:
- Primary (black sidewall): 5 sets per entry (1 extra sets for rookies)
- Alternate (green sidewall): 5 sets per entry
- Rain (gray sidewall): 5 sets per entry
Notes from Cara Krstolic, Chief Engineer and Director of Race Tire Engineering and Production:
“Last season we designed and developed our Firestone Firehawk primary tire compounds and constructions specifically to support the hybrid era of racing. Those remain unchanged heading into the 2025 season with the hybrid engine now used at every race.
Compared to the 2024 edition of the Grand Prix of St. Pete race without the hybrid engine, this year’s primary tire is expected to remain similar, with a slight increase in wear due to the extra hybrid weight.
In preparation for this season’s temporary street circuits, we worked with INDYCAR to provide a softer and faster wearing alternate (green sidewall incorporating guayule rubber) tire compound. This new compound will provide more grip but will wear more quickly, providing a bigger drop-off gap between the primary and alternate tire. The alternate compound is similar to what we ran at St. Pete in 2023 but will exhibit more wear and degradation on the heavier hybrid Indy car.”
INDY NXT by Firestone Notes
- This is Firestone’s third season as presenting sponsor and exclusive tire supplier of INDYCAR’s top-tier development series, INDY NXT by Firestone. Firestone will produce more than 5,000 tires with 16 different specifications to support the INDY NXT by Firestone series and help develop the next generation of racing talent.
- Firestone is supplying close to 400 race tires to INDY NXT by Firestone teams for practices, qualifying, and the 45-lap (81 miles or 55 min.) race.
Each INDY NXT by Firestone entry will be provided with the following allocation of Firestone Firehawk race tires:
- Primary: 3 sets per entry (plus one carryover set from testing)
- Rain: 2 sets per entry
Notes from Cara Krstolic, Chief Engineer and Director Race Tire Engineering and Production:
“Following last year’s INDY NXT race at St. Pete, we made a construction change to the front tires for remaining 2024 INDY NXT races. The Firestone Firehawk tires we are providing this weekend have that same construction and compound used at the majority of events last season (except Road America) and we expect them to perform similarly. All street and road course tires for 2025 INDY NXT competition will remain the same, with the exception of tires made specifically for the demanding Road America track.”
