IndyCar: Matheus Leist tops first St. Petersburg practice session
By Asher Fair
The opening practice session for the opening race of the 2018 IndyCar season at St. Petersburg is in the books. Which drivers look solid early on?
The first practice session for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, which is the opening race of the 2018 IndyCar season, has come to an end with a new driver on top of the speed chart.
A.J. Foyt Enterprises’ rookie Matheus Leist topped the speed chart with a top lap time of 61.7231 seconds (104.985 miles per hour) around the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street circuit in his first career IndyCar practice session.
Driving the #4 Chevrolet, Leist was the only Chevrolet driver to finish the session in the top 6, as Honda drivers took each of the spots from 2nd through 6th place. Sebastien Bourdais, who won last year’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, led the way for the Honda drivers in 2nd place in his #18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda.
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The fastest Chevrolet driver in the session aside of Leist was Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud, who finished in 7th place. Team Penske drivers did not have a great session, with Pagenaud, Will Power and defending IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden finishing the session in 7th, 8th and 15th place, respectively.
Robert Wickens was the fastest rookie Honda driver in his #7 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda. He finished the practice session in 6th place. The other rookies that took part in this practice session were Jordan King, Zachary Claman DeMelo, Zach Veach, Jack Harvey, and Rene Binder. They finished in 11th, 14th, 16th, 17th and 24th place, respectively.
Here are the full practice results from the first practice session for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
| Rank | Driver | Car, Team, Engine |
| 1 | Matheus Leist | #4, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet |
| 2 | Sebastien Bourdais | #18, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda |
| 3 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | #28, Andretti Autosport, Honda |
| 4 | Alexander Rossi | #27, Andretti Autosport, Honda |
| 5 | Scott Dixon | #9, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda |
| 6 | Robert Wickens | #6, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda |
| 7 | Simon Pagenaud | #22, Team Penske, Chevrolet |
| 8 | Will Power | #12, Team Penske, Chevrolet |
| 9 | Tony Kanaan | #14, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet |
| 10 | Spencer Pigot | #21, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet |
| 11 | Jordan King | #20, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet |
| 12 | Graham Rahal | #15, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda |
| 13 | Ed Jones | #10, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda |
| 14 | Zachary Claman DeMelo | #19, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda |
| 15 | Josef Newgarden | #1, Team Penske, Chevrolet |
| 16 | Zach Veach | #26, Andretti Autosport, Honda |
| 17 | Jack Harvey | #60, Michael Shank Racing, Honda |
| 18 | Marco Andretti | #98, Andretti Herta Autosport, Honda |
| 19 | James Hinchcliffe | #5, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda |
| 20 | Max Chilton | #59, Carlin Motorsport, Chevrolet |
| 21 | Charlie Kimball | #23, Carlin Motorsport, Chevrolet |
| 22 | Takuma Sato | #30, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda |
| 23 | Gabby Chaves | #88, Harding Racing, Chevrolet |
| 24 | Rene Binder | #32, Juncos Racing, Chevrolet |
The second practice session for the race is set to take place today at 3:10 pm ET. The third practice session for the race is set to take place tomorrow at 11:10 am ET before qualifying takes place at 2:20 pm ET. The final practice for the race is set to take place at 8:45 am ET on Sunday morning.
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Don’t miss the first race of the 2018 IndyCar season, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, this Sunday, March 11th. It is set to be broadcast live from the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida starting at 12:30 pm ET on ABC.