St Petersburg IndyCar: Rosenqvist tops practice one, Ericsson third – IndyCar

Ganassi’s rookie signing Felix Rosenqvist was fastest in his first official IndyCar session in opening St Petersburg practice, while fellow Swedish newcomer and Formula 1 convert Marcus Ericsson was third.

Rosenqvist was the first driver into the 1m02s bracket, as the rookies – who are granted an extra set of tyres for the weekend – hit the 1.8-mile street/runway course early.

His time then gradually fell down the top 10 as the series veterans emerged, but with eight minutes to go Rosenqvist emerged and lowered his mark to 1m01.8215s in his Dallara-Honda.

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Andretti Autosport Dallara-Honda driver Ryan Hunter-Reay drew to within a quarter-second of this benchmark, with Ericsson moving into third for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.

The second Ganassi car of five-time and reigning champion Scott Dixon completed only 15 laps compared with his team-mate’s 25, but still clocked fourth ahead of the man he beat to the 2018 title – Alexander Rossi.

Takuma Sato and Graham Rahal were sixth and eighth for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, despite Rahal grinding his left-side wheels along a wall.

The pair were separated by Chevrolet’s leading runner in the session, Josef Newgarden of Team Penske. His team-mates Will Power and Simon Pagenaud were 10th and 12th.

The session was ended a minute early when rookie Ben Hanley’s DragonSpeed Dallara-Chevrolet expired on its 15th lap.

Practice one times