Kyle Kirkwood, reigning Indy Lights champion with AJ Foyt Racing, was the first driver of the weekend to duck under the 1m01 second barrier but was soon eclipsed by Will Power of Team Penske, Simon Pagenaud (Meyer Shank Racing) and Rinus VeeKay (Ed Carpenter Racing).
But it was Alexander Rossi of Andretti Autosport who hit form, his ninth lap putting him on top with a 1m00.306s.
The session had been largely incident-free to this point – a harmless Turn 1 spin for Jimmie Johnson and a trip down the Turn 10 escape road for yesterday’s pacesetter Romain Grosjean (Andretti Autosport).
But with just under half an hour to go of the 45-minute session, Jack Harvey turned in a tad too early at Turn 9, clipped the inside wall which spat the Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver hard into the outside wall on corner exit which brought out the red flag.
The session resumed with 20 minutes to go, but the red flag emerged again just two minutes later. Grosjean arrived fast at Turn 10 as a group of cars backed up, trying to give each other some clear space for a flying lap.
Grosjean drove hard into the back of the #51 Dale Coyne Racing that he used to drive – now occupied by Takuma Sato – and jacked it high in the air. Both cars were too damaged to continue.
At the same time, Johnson spun at Turn 8, lightly touched the barrier with the sidewalls of his tires, and stalled.
Action resumed with little more than 10 minutes to go, with drivers taking the chance to put on the softer, red-sidewalled Firestone tyres.
It was Penske’s sophomore McLaughlin who punched in the first sub-one-minute lap, with a 59.734s effort. Reigning champion Palou, who had just turned his fastest lap of the session and moved up to seventh, had a nasty-looking shunt at Turn 9. Like Harvey, he clipped the inside wall, but in this instance, the Ganassi car was sent nearly head-on into the outside wall.
The cars were released again, but no one improved their times, so McLaughlin remained top ahead of last year’s St. Petersburg winner Colton Herta of Andretti Autosport.
Pagenaud was third ahead of Rossi and Power, with VeeKay making it five different teams in the top six.
Rookie Kirkwood adapted well to the Firestone reds, knocking half a second off his black-tyre time and finishing the session eighth ahead of the Arrow McLaren SP duo of Patricio O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist.
IndyCar St Petersburg FP2 results