IndyCar: Scott Dixon tops third St. Petersburg practice session
By Asher Fair
The final pre-qualifying practice session for the opening race of the 2018 IndyCar season at St. Petersburg is in the books. Who looks solid?
The third 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, meaning there are no more practice sessions until qualifying for the race takes place this afternoon.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon topped the speed chart with a top lap time of 60.7571 seconds (106.654 miles per hour) around the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street circuit in his #9 Honda.
The top Chevrolet driver in the session was Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, who won last year’s IndyCar championship. Newgarden finished in 2nd place in the session and led a string of six consecutive Chevrolet drivers from 2nd to 7th.
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Also in that string of Chevrolet drivers from 2nd to 7th place were Newgarden’s two teammates. Will Power finished the session in 3rd, and Simon Pagenaud finished the session in 6th, giving Team Penske their best practice session of the weekend so far.
Chevrolet drivers Jordan King, Matheus Leist and Spencer Pigot finished in 4th, 5th and 7th place in the practice session. None of those three drivers have ever driven full-time in IndyCar before, and King and Leist have never even driven in one IndyCar race. Aside of Dixon in 1st, the top Honda driver of the session was Alexander Rossi in 8th place.
Here are the full practice results from the third practice session for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
| Rank | Driver | Car, Team, Engine |
| 1 | Scott Dixon | #9, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda |
| 2 | Josef Newgarden | #1, Team Penske, Chevrolet |
| 3 | Will Power | #12, Team Penske, Chevrolet |
| 4 | Jordan King | #20, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet |
| 5 | Matheus Leist | #4, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet |
| 6 | Simon Pagenaud | #22, Team Penske, Chevrolet |
| 7 | Spencer Pigot | #21, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet |
| 8 | Alexander Rossi | #27, Andretti Autosport, Honda |
| 9 | Takuma Sato | #30, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda |
| 10 | Tony Kanaan | #14, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet |
| 11 | Marco Andretti | #98, Andretti Herta Autosport, Honda |
| 12 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | #28, Andretti Autosport, Honda |
| 13 | James Hinchcliffe | #5, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda |
| 14 | Zach Veach | #26, Andretti Autosport, Honda |
| 15 | Sebastien Bourdais | #18, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda |
| 16 | Robert Wickens | #6, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda |
| 17 | Gabby Chaves | #88, Harding Racing, Chevrolet |
| 18 | Ed Jones | #10, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda |
| 19 | Graham Rahal | #15, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda |
| 20 | Jack Harvey | #60, Michael Shank Racing, Honda |
| 21 | Max Chilton | #59, Carlin Motorsport, Chevrolet |
| 22 | Charlie Kimball | #23, Carlin Motorsport, Chevrolet |
| 23 | Zachary Claman DeMelo | #19, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda |
| 24 | Rene Binder | #32, Juncos Racing, Chevrolet |
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Qualifying for the race is set to take place starting at 2:20 pm ET, and the final practice session for the race is set to take place tomorrow morning at 8:45 am ET. Be sure to tune in to ABC tomorrow at 12:30 pm ET to watch the 2018 IndyCar season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.