IndyCar
Colton Herta wins pole position for INDYCAR Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
PITTSBURGH, PA (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta is on the pole position for Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Herta’s fast lap of 1:00:3210 (107.425 MPH) around the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street circuit beat Meyer Shank Racing’s Jack Harvey by 0.2499-seconds after knockout-style qualifying.
“We’ve shown strong pace all weekend,” said Herta. “I’ve been so close to winning a pole every year since I’ve come here it’s nice to finally win one. The Gainbridge car was so good today, and everybody did a phenomenal job all weekend up until this point. ”
“A really great day,” said Harvey. “I think we made some good changes overnight. We were good on blacks and good on reds, a really solid day. It never hurts to be start at the front. I think we got a really good car.”
Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden will start third after being the fastest car in both practice sessions. Newgarden put down a fast lap of 1:00:6078 (106.917). Teammate Simon Pagenaud will start alongside in fourth after a quick lap of 1:00:6353 (106.868).
AJ Foyt Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais and Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward will make up row three after posting fast times of 1:01:0017 (106.227) and 1:01:0799 (106.091) respectively.
Plenty of heavy hitters failed to even advance to the fast six including Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi in the No. 27 AutoNation/NAPA Honda (P7) , PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon (P8), NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou (P10), Team Penske’s Will Power (P20) and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing teammates Graham Rahal (P9) and Takuma Sato.
“It was definitely a chaotic round one,” said Dixon, who had his fastest lap disqualified per INDYCAR rules for causing a local yellow which slowed another competitor. “Just really struggled on the entry, which we never had any problems through all the practices. Obviously the winds a lot higher and the track temp is up.”
“Definitely not the qualifying session we were looking for,” said Power. “Just didn’t get the set-up quite right and this series is so tough now if you’re right on point you’re certainly going to pay for it.”
Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg coverage begins at Noon on NBC and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
WASHINGTON D.C. (August 22, 2026) – Alex Palou’s blistering lap of 56.8993 seconds in the No. 10 OpenAI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda puts the four-time NTT IndyCar Series Champion on the pole position for Sunday’s Freedom 250 on the streets of Washington D.C.
“Incredible,” said Palou. “My car was on rails. Super-fun lap, super-fun car to drive. Couldn’t be happier. Looking forward to tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, man, 250 miles.”
Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood lines up second after a lap of 57.4661 in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda.
“P1 both first and second group, and the last one Alex Palou is just a legend and goes faster on his one-lap dash than he did the whole rest of the run, I think,” Kirkwood said. “He made us look silly out there.”
Scott McLaughlin spoiled the Honda party up front, putting the No. 3 PPG Chevrolet third on the grid after a fast lap of 57.4200.
Palou’s CGR teammates Scott Dixon and Kyffin Simpson did not fare as well as their teammate.
Dixon was on a lap that would have allowed him to transfer into the next round of qualifying, when Simpson hit the wall, triggering a red flag which cancelled Dixon’s lap. The No. 9 PNC Bank Honda will start 14th.
Bringing out the red flag penalized Simpson of his two fastest laps so the No. 8 Sunoco Honda will start last in 25th.
Coverage of the Freedom 250 starts at 11:30 a.m. on Fox and IndyCar Radio with the green flag waving in our nation’s capital at 1 p.m.
MARKHAM, ONTARIO (August 15, 2026) – The NTT IndyCar Series is making it’s first visit to a new street circuit in Markham, Ontario but a familiar face topped the speed charts after the first practice.
Four-time Series Champion Alex Palou turned the fastest lap around the 12-turn, 2.19-mile temporary street course, a 1-minute, 14.9915-seconds (100.811 mph) lap in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
A.J. Foyt Racing rookie Caio Collett was second quick with a 1-minute, 15.0454-seconds (100.739) in the No. 4 Chevrolet.
Louis Foster was third quick in the No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda at 1:15.0278 (100.702) followed by Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin 1:15.2981 (100.401). Will Power rounded out the Top 5 at 1:15.3152 (100.378).
Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammates were not as strong. Six-time Series Champion Scott Dixon was 20th at 1:16.4583 (98.877) in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda. Kyffin Simpson was 24th at 1.17.3893 (97.688) in the No. 8 Sunoco Honda. Simpson made contact with the wall at Turn 6, causing damage to the rear suspension. Simpson limped to pits for repair and returned to action later in the session.
Practice 2 is set for 2:30 p.m. as delayed track construction forced officials to cancel Friday’s activities and condense Saturday’s schedule. NTT P1 Pole Qualifying is set for 6:30 p.m. ET
MARKHAM, ONTARIO (August 14, 2026) – Issues with the completion of the temporary street circuit in Markham Ontario has forced the NTT INDYCAR SERIES first practice to be moved to Saturday as all of Friday’s on-track activity had to be scrubbed from the schedule.
“INDYCAR is incredibly disappointed that our promoter was not able to complete the track build on time, despite significant support from our team on site,” INDYCAR President J. Douglas Boles said. “Ontario has always been a magnificent market for our sport and the number of spectators that attended today is a shining example of that. New events can always pose logistical challenges and we join in the frustration of our loyal fans and apologize.”
Green Savoree Promotions also issued a statement.
“Ensuring the safety of the drivers and the completion of the certification process of competing on a brand-new racetrack delayed all on-track activities today. Today’s sessions have been rescheduled to Saturday, August 15, to allow for further track preparations.”
“We greatly appreciate all the fans who made it out to the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham today and chose to spend the day with us. The attendance and support were overwhelming.”
The revamped schedule calls for the first practice to take place at 10:00 a.m. followed by a second practice at 2:30 p.m. and P1 Pole Qualifying at 6:30 p.m.
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