Felix Rosenqvist took away a 12th place finish and some hard-fought points as the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season got underway with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg this weekend.
Rosenqvist enjoyed an encouraging start to the curtain-raising event by going second fastest in Friday’s opening practice session, but slipped to 11th in qualifying after struggling for grip on the tight and twisty Florida street course.
Once in the race on Sunday, the Meyer Shank Racing Swede made a promising start to haul himself into the top eight in the early stages.
Approaching his first pit stop, however, Rosenqvist’s red-walled soft tyres began to rapidly degrade, costing him a significant amount of lap time and track position.
Rejoining down in 17th, Rosenqvist spent the remaining two thirds of the 100-lap race trying to recover some of the lost ground, eventually shadowing MSR team-mate Marcus Armstrong across the line to salvage a P12 finish.
“Disappointing race for us,” Felix Rosenqvist admits. “The tyres went away from us pretty hard on reds, I did my best to look after them but they really degraded too early and that kind of set us back for the rest of the race. We took some points today and had a more positive final stint, but overall it’s been a disappointing weekend.
“Thankfully the next race is just a few days away and I’m hoping we can do better next weekend in Phoenix.”
Round 2 of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES takes place at Phoenix Raceway – the first oval event of the campaign – in a week’s time, with the race scheduled for Saturday, March 7.
RESULTS
NTT INDYCAR SERIES | Rd. 1
Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
Streets of St. Petersburg (USA)
1: Alex Palou (ESP), Ganassi, 100 laps
2: Scott McLaughlin (NZL), Penske, +12.494s
3: Christian Lundgaard (DEN), McLaren, +12.915s
4: Kyle Kirkwood (USA), Andretti, +25.273s
5: Pato O’Ward (MEX), McLaren, +26.075s
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12: Felix Rosenqvist (SWE), Meyer Shank Racing, +30.810s
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
NTT INDYCAR SERIES | After 1/18 races
1: Alex Palou (ESP), Ganassi, 54 p.
2: Scott McLaughlin (NZL), Penske, 41 p.
3: Christian Lundgaard (DEN), McLaren, 36 p.
4: Kyle Kirkwood (USA), Andretti, 32 p.
5: Pato O’Ward (MEX), McLaren, 30 p.
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12: Felix Rosenqvist (SWE), Meyer Shank Racing, 18 p.