Juncos Hollinger Racing INDYCAR Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Race Report
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES kicked off the 2025 season on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida this weekend. Weather conditions remained favorable as teams took to the 1.8-mile temporary street circuit for the first competitive action of the new campaign.
After a challenging qualifying session, Juncos Hollinger Racing lined up P22 for the No. 76 Chevrolet of Conor Daly and P26 for the No. 77 Goodheart Chevrolet piloted by Sting Ray Robb for Sunday’s 100-lap race.
Daly gained multiple positions on the opening lap despite a multi-car incident that brought out an early caution. The No. 76 maintained positive momentum through the first stint on alternate tires before switching to the primary tire. However, a set of used primary tires in the middle stint hampered progress, ultimately resulting in a P17 finish despite showing pace that suggested top-12 potential.
Conor Daly: “I think we had a tremendous start which was a lot of fun. Gained a lot of positions. Got off of the greens (alternate tire) right when we wanted to. Honestly, I think we had great pace during the race. Just our used set of primaries kind of hurt us in the middle of the race. We definitely know to keep only new primaries from now on. Bit of a shame to not capitalize on a top-12 that I think we had. We were running ahead of a lot of those guys to finish up near there in the top-10. Decent start, we learned a lot, and I think we can carry a lot of this to the next few races.”
In his team debut, Sting Ray Robb battled through early tire management challenges in the No. 77 entry. As the race progressed, his pace improved during the final stint, where he impressively held off championship contenders temporarily while running on the lead lap. Robb completed all 100 laps to cross the finish line in P21.
Sting Ray Robb: “Today was okay. I think we had a good car, we are still learning the tires. It really hurt us at the beginning of the race. Our ending stint was really nice. I know we were there in front of the leaders trying to hold Palou off, and it is very hard to hold off that guy. I felt like we had decent pace in the car. I think we could have gone a little more forward with different tire pressure. Overall, I’m happy with it. I think we had decent fuel save, and decent power. So I am hoping that the No. 77 Goodheart Chevrolet goes faster at the next one, and I think it will.“
The NTT INDYCAR Series continues with the Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix on March 23, broadcast live on FOX.
