{"id":19107,"date":"2026-02-25T00:18:43","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T23:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/felix-rosenqvist-heads-to-st-petersburg-as-new-indycar-season-dawns\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T00:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T23:22:09","slug":"felix-rosenqvist-heads-to-st-petersburg-as-new-indycar-season-dawns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/felix-rosenqvist-heads-to-st-petersburg-as-new-indycar-season-dawns\/","title":{"rendered":"Felix Rosenqvist heads to St. Petersburg as new INDYCAR season dawns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Felix Rosenqvist is riding on waves of determination as the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES finally springs to life this weekend with the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.<\/strong>

The first of 18 races on this year\u2019s expanded INDYCAR schedule, St. Petersburg marks the traditional start to North America\u2019s premier single-seater championship yet again as the Florida streets light up with the sounds and smells of racing.

Rosenqvist is entering his eighth season of INDYCAR competition, and his third representing Meyer Shank Racing (MSR). Preparing for battle once again aboard the Ohio-based team\u2019s #60 Dallara-Honda, the Swede comes off the back of a highly successful 2025 campaign in which delivered a fine sixth in the championship standings \u2013 an all-time-high for MSR.

Forming part of an unchanged two-car line-up that also features New Zealand\u2019s Marcus Armstrong, Rosenqvist is determined to get the new season underway in style and continue the upward trajectory for himself and his team.

\u201cI really couldn\u2019t be more excited to finally be back to racing,\u201d\u00a0says Felix Rosenqvist<\/strong>. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long break, but here we are and I can\u2019t wait to hit the track. With basically half a year to reflect on the previous season, you always tend to feel more prepared than ever going into the first race \u2013 the only issue is, so probably does everybody else!\u00a0

\u201cThis is where the talking stops and the flag drops, and with the current level of competition in INDYCAR, it will be extremely interesting to see where we all rank in.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After several attention-grabbing music collaborations in 2025, MSR and team partner SiriusXM are sprinting out of the jukebox again in 2026 with a striking livery for Rosenqvist\u2019s car this weekend, featuring iconic American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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News for the 2026 INDYCAR season include a slightly altered practice format \u2013 where Practice 2 now features the same split-group running as Practice 1 \u2013 and a new requirement to run at least two sets of Firestone alternate (soft) tyres in street course races (one more than previously mandated).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the primary, harder tyres, the requirement of at least one set per race remains unchanged.

The warm-up sessions on race day mornings have also been extended from 25 to 30 minutes.\u00a0

25 cars are set to make up the full-time grid in 2026.

\u201cThere are a few small tweaks going into this year, but really nothing major,\u201d\u00a0Felix Rosenqvist continues<\/strong>. \u201dLikewise on our team and on my personal crew; it\u2019s basically unchanged. It\u2019s the most consistency I\u2019ve had between seasons in my INDYCAR career so far, and I think it\u2019s great. It\u2019s a great group of people. I can\u2019t wait to build on our achievements in 2025 and try to do even better this year.\u201d<\/em>

While the same consistency that served Rosenqvist so well last year is certain to be key once again this season, the Swede singles out one particular item on his wish list as he moves into 2026: winning a race.\u00a0
\u00a0
\u201cI think that\u2019s the next step for us,\u201d\u00a0Felix Rosenqvist concludes<\/strong>. \u201cWe\u2019ve had pole positions, we\u2019ve been on the podium, we\u2019ve improved in the standings two years in a row \u2013 but that first win has eluded us. That is something I want to achieve this year and I feel we have everything in place now to make that a realistic target. We\u2019ll push for it, starting this weekend in St. Pete!\u201d<\/em>

With a record four races in March, this weekend\u2019s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg signals the beginning of the busiest-ever start to an NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. Subsequent races will follow in the coming weeks in Phoenix, Arlington (a new-for-2026 event) and at Barber Motorsports Park.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0

The blue-riband Indianapolis 500 takes place on May 24, with the season then continuing at full pace throughout the summer \u2013 taking in new races in Markham, Canada, and Washington, D.C. \u2013 before reaching its climax at Laguna Seca on September 6.

Practice on the Streets of St. Petersburg begins on Friday, with qualifying set for Saturday and the season-opening race taking centre stage on Sunday. It is contested over 100 laps.

FOX Sports is the official INDYCAR broadcaster in the USA. For details on how to watch in other parts of the world,\u00a0please click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


TIME TABLE<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

All times local (U.S. Eastern)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NTT INDYCAR SERIES | Rd. 1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg<\/strong>
Streets of St. Petersburg (USA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday February 27<\/span><\/strong>
Practice\u00a01: 1:35-3:00 pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday February 28<\/span><\/strong>
Practice\u00a02: 9:35-11:00 am
Qualifying: 4:35-6:00 pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday March 1<\/span><\/strong>
Warm-up: 9:05-9:35 am
Race (100 laps): 12:25 pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n


TIMING:<\/strong>\u00a0INDYCAR App \/\u00a0indycar.com<\/a>
EVENT DATA:\u00a0<\/strong>view here<\/a>
HOW TO FOLLOW:<\/strong> view here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Felix Rosenqvist is riding on waves of determination as the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES finally springs to life this weekend with the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19],"tags":[172,170],"class_list":["post-19107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news3","category-press-releases","tag-firestone-grand-prix-of-st-petersburg","tag-ntt-indycar-series-2026","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"aioseo_notices":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19107"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19114,"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19107\/revisions\/19114"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}