Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Pre-Race Pit Notes

ST. PETERSBURG, FL - RIS – It was announced Friday that Oriel Servia will contest this year’s Indianapolis 500-mile race with the Scuderia Corsa, Rahal Letterman Lanigan team.

Bridgestone America’s announced Thursday that it will extend its Firestone brand sponsorship of the St. Petersburg Grand Prix for two more years. This is its fifth year as title sponsor. Honda had sponsored the event in the past.

A truck that empties portable toilets crashed into the Chip Ganassi Racing hospitality trailer…. No injuries were reported….

Drivers were anxious to put pre-season testing behind them. The last IndyCar race was at Sonoma on September 18, 2017. Excited race car teams worked hard preparing their race cars in the make-shift paddock in the parking garage inside the 1.8 mile, 12-turn temporary street circuit in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. But with four new teams and this new car package there are still many setups to yet be determined.

Race Distance: 110 laps/198 miles.

Team Penske had dominated St. Pete with eight victories and eight pole positions.

Of the seven rookies entered, four will make their first IndyCar Series start –Rene Binder, Jordan King, Matheus Leist and Robert Wickens.

Five drivers entered in the 2017 race are not racing this weekend – Race Grand Marshall Helio Castroneves, JR Hildebrand, Mikhail Aleshin, Connor Daly and Carlos Munoz.

“Push to Pass” 60 horsepower increase limited to 150 seconds during the race.

Saturdays IndyCar Schedule:

11:10 am Verizon IndyCar Series Practice (stream)

2:20 pm IndyCar Firestone Fast 6 Qualifying (stream)

Sunday’s IndyCar Schedule:

8:45 am Verizon IndyCar Series Warm-up (stream)

12:30 pm IndyCar Series Race (ABC)