It’s time for the second practice session of the weekend. Yesterday two times race winner Kyle Kirkwood had impressed and signed the fastest lap time, will he manage to remain on top of FP2 at St. Pete or will someone else snatch that top spot, maybe even recently resigned McLaughlin?
Early red flag
All drivers immediately began their track time, with Colton Herta signing the best early lap in 1:02.557s. Lundgaard had a moment at Turn 4 while adapting to his new Arrow McLaren challenger.
Power, second in the standings, suffered from lockup at the end of Turn 1. However, his car stalled and stopped on track, issuing a red flag during FP2 in St. Pete. The Penske driver’s car thus had to be towed back into the pits. The birthday boy, who’s turning 44 today, has received a 5 minutes hold in penalty for causing an interruption during the session.
Kirkwood keeps up with his strong form from yesterday, becoming the first driver to sign a lap in the 1:01s. Session resumed with 40 minutes left on the clock, and times are tumbling, as Herta, Malukas and Daly are now the top three.
Prema are also having another positive performance, with Ilott in the top 5 only 0.200s off Herta’s top time. Track evolution is really lowering the times, as 2024 St. Petersburg winner O’Ward takes provisional P1 with a 1.01.063s ahead of teammate Nolan Siegel and 2023 St. Pete rival Ericsson.
Another lull in the racing
Veekay runs wide into the Turn 4 runoff but is able to quickly resume his session, whereas Rahal stalled at Turn 13. A second red flag of the day was issued in order to remove rocks from the track at Turn 11, with 30 minutes left on the clock for FP2 in St. Pete.
McLaughlin has a quick engine cover change before the restart of the session. Rosenqvist gets P1 for Meyers Shank Racing on primaries with a1:00.962s. Siegel is making huge steps in his first St. Petersburg start, shaving 0.700s from the best effort he had signed yesterday.
With 20 minutes left on the clock, Lundgaard leads from Rahal, who has recovered from his previous engine issues, and Rosenqvist. Defrancesco and Ferrucci complete the top 5.
Latest driver announced for 2025 Rinus Veekay is our latest session leader, having lapped in 1:00.610s, whereas two times 500 champion Josef Newgarden slots in P4. Penske appears to keep struggling at street courses just like in the past season.
Andretti on the other hand is performing consistently with all three drivers here, as Ericsson lowers the benchmark to 1:00.520s. In the final 12 minutes of the session the majority of the drivers opt for qualifying simulations on the softer tyre compound, whereas the Swede leaves his car and the pits.
Qualifying simulations
Reigning champion Alex Palou slides in P3, 0.03s off the Dale Coyne’s P2 time, while the three McLaren drivers take P4, 5 and 6 respectively for Siegel, Lundgaard and O’Ward under the attentive sight of Team Principal Tony Kanaan.
Herta is the latest driver to have a moment at Turn 4, but he is able to just correct his mistake at the runoff. Juncos’s Daly, sporting the recently changed 76 on his car, signs a 1.00.710s to join the top 5.
It’s an incredibly tight and competitive field, as the driver in P27 is only a second away from session n leader Marcus Ericsson.
In the final moments of the session Power brushes the wall. However, his challenger is not affected by the contact and can resume his lap as nothing happened.
Ericsson holds P1 from a surprising Veekay for Dale Coyne and Palou, with Siegel and Daly rounding off the top 5. It’s a double top ten finish in FP2 at St. Pete for Juncos as Lundgaard, Robb, O’Ward, Kirkwood and Malukas are next.
