The 2022 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was an IndyCar motor race held on February 27, 2022 at the Streets of St. Petersburg in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was the season opener of the 2022 IndyCar Series. The race lasted for 100 laps.
Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske scored his first pole in qualifying and claimed his first race victory in the series over Álex Palou, after leading the most laps in the race. Will Power, McLaughlin's teammate, finished third to complete the podium.
Background In September 2021, it was announced that St. Petersburg, Florida would host the first race of the 2022 season on February 27, 2022. This marked the first February start for the IndyCar series since the 2004 season and the earliest the season has started since 2003 (at the same circuit).
Colton Herta was the defending race winner, having won the previous Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in 2021.
Entrants 26 drivers entered the race, with six of them classified as rookies for the 2022 season. Four rookies made their IndyCar race debut, two of them for A. J. Foyt Enterprises: Kyle Kirkwood made his debut with the team after winning the 2021 Indy Lights championship, alongside former Super Formula and WEC driver Tatiana Calderón, who secured her seat after impressing the team after a test with the team in 2021. 2021 Indy Lights runner-up David Malukas debuted for Dale Coyne Racing, while Canadian driver Devlin DeFrancesco, who had finished sixth in the 2021 Indy Lights championship, debuted for Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport. KeyMeaningRookiePast winner Driver Team Engine2 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet3 Scott McLaughlin Team Penske Chevrolet4 Dalton Kellett A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet5 Patricio O'Ward Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet06 Hélio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing Honda7 Felix Rosenqvist Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet8 Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda10 Álex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda11 Tatiana Calderón A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet12 Will Power Team Penske Chevrolet14 Kyle Kirkwood A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda18 David Malukas Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports Honda20 Conor Daly Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet21 Rinus VeeKay Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet26 Colton Herta Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Honda27 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Honda28 Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport Honda29 Devlin DeFrancesco Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport Honda30 Christian Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda45 Jack Harvey Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda48 Jimmie Johnson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda51 Takuma Sato Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing Honda60 Simon Pagenaud Meyer Shank Racing Honda77 Callum Ilott Juncos Hollinger Racing ChevroletSource:
Practice Practice 1 + Top Practice Speeds Driver Team Engine Lap Time1 28 Romain GrosjeanAndretti AutosportHonda1:01:05252 26 Colton Herta Andretti Autosport with Curb-AgajanianHonda1:01:15673 12 Will Power Team PenskeChevrolet1:01:2282 Source:
Practice 2
+ Top Practice Speeds Driver Team Engine Lap Time1 3 Scott McLaughlinTeam PenskeChevrolet00:59.73422 26 Colton HertaAndretti Autosport with Curb-AgajanianHonda01:00.0851 3 60 Simon PagenaudMeyer Shank RacingHonda01:00.0853 Source:
Qualifying
Qualifying classification Driver Team Engine Time Round 1 Group 1 Group 2 1 3 Scott McLaughlin Team Penske ChevroletN/A 00:59.5846 00:59.5157 00:59.4821 1 2 12 Will Power Team Penske ChevroletN/A 00:59.3929 00:59.3466 00:59.6058 2 3 26 Colton Herta Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Honda 00:59.4662N/A 00:59.4051 00:59.7104 3 4 21 Rinus VeeKay Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 00:59.8046N/A 00:59.6232 00:59.8102 4 5 28 Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport HondaN/A 00:59.6267 00:59.5559 00:59.8116 5 6 60 Simon Pagenaud Meyer Shank Racing HondaN/A 00:59.7039 00:59.5881 01:00.2041 6 7 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 00:59.8106N/A 00:59.7579N/A 7 8 8 Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing HondaN/A 00:59.8815 00:59.8241N/A 8 9 2 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet 00:59.9148N/A 00:59.8862N/A 9 10 10 Álex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing HondaN/A 00:59.8956 00:59.9584N/A 10 11 15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 00:59.7760N/A 00:59.9870N/A 11 12 14 Kyle Kirkwood A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 00:59.8534N/A 01:00.2616N/A 12 13 27 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Honda 00:59.9931N/A N/AN/A 13 14 4 Dalton Kellett A. J. Foyt Enterprises ChevroletN/A 00:59.9521N/AN/A 14 15 30 Christian Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 01:00.0276N/A N/AN/A 15 16 5 Pato O'Ward Arrow McLaren SP ChevroletN/A 01:00.0021N/AN/A 16 17 06 Hélio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing Honda 01:00.1426N/A N/AN/A 17 18 29 Devlin DeFrancesco Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport HondaN/A 01:00.0850N/AN/A 18 19 77 Callum Ilott Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet 01:00.2121N/A N/AN/A 19 20 20 Conor Daly Ed Carpenter Racing ChevroletN/A 01:00.1921N/AN/A 20 21 7 Felix Rosenqvist Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet 01:00.3918N/A N/AN/A 21 22 51 Takuma Sato Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing HondaN/A 01:00.2930N/AN/A 22 23 45 Jack Harvey Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 01:00.5333N/A N/AN/A 22 24 18 David Malukas Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports HondaN/A 01:00.4601N/AN/A 24 25 11 Tatiana Calderón A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 01:00.9391N/AN/AN/A 25 26 48 Jimmie Johnson Chip Ganassi Racing HondaN/A 01:01.0273N/AN/A 26 Source: Notes Bold text indicates fastest time set in session.
Warmup +Top Warmup SpeedsDriverTeamEngineLap Time1 26 Colton Herta Andretti Autosport with Curb-AgajanianHonda01:00.32832 2 Josef Newgarden Team PenskeChevrolet01:00.59713 10 Álex PalouChip Ganassi RacingHonda01:00.8311 Source:
Race The race started at 12:00 PM ET on February 27, 2022.
Race classification Driver Team Engine Laps Time/Retired PitStops Grid LapsLed 1 3 Scott McLaughlin Team Penske Chevrolet 100 1:51:27.3466 2 1 49 54 2 10 Álex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 100 +0.5095 2 10 1 41 3 12 Will Power Team Penske Chevrolet 100 +2.4671 2 2 1 36 4 26 Colton Herta Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Honda 100 +15.8442 2 3 32 5 28 Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport Honda 100 +18.4525 2 5 30 6 21 Rinus VeeKay Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 100 +20.6514 2 4 13 29 7 15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 100 +21.4181 2 11 26 8 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 100 +22.0277 3 7 26 25 9 8 Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 100 +22.3674 2 8 22 10 51 Takuma Sato Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing Honda 100 +23.2743 2 22 20 11 30 Christian Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 100 +24.4244 2 15 19 12 5 Pato O'Ward Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet 100 +26.2750 3 16 18 13 45 Jack Harvey Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 100 +31.6687 3 23 17 14 06 Hélio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing Honda 100 +33.5985 3 17 16 15 60 Simon Pagenaud Meyer Shank Racing Honda 100 +34.2147 3 6 15 16 2 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet 100 +36.2603 3 9 14 17 7 Felix Rosenqvist Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet 100 +39.0361 3 21 13 18 14 Kyle Kirkwood A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 100 +58.1240 3 12 12 19 77 Callum Ilott Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet 100 +58.7223 3 19 11 20 27 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Honda 100 +59.1634 2 13 10 11 21 20 Conor Daly Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 100 +1:00.1358 3 20 9 22 29 Devlin DeFrancesco Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport Honda 100 +1:02.8613 3 18 8 23 48 Jimmie Johnson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 99 +1 Lap 2 26 7 24 11 Tatiana Calderón A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 97 +3 Laps 4 25 6 25 4 Dalton Kellett A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 62 Gearbox 3 14 5 26 18 David Malukas Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports Honda 23 Accident 1 24 5Fastest lap: Conor Daly (Ed Carpenter Racing)– 01:00.9868 (lap 53) Source:
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Driver Points1 Scott McLaughlin 542 Álex Palou 413 Will Power 364 Colton Herta 325 Romain Grosjean 30 Source:
Engine manufacturer standings Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 91 2 Honda 72 Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included.
References