IndyCar: Josef Newgarden wins 2019 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

Josef Newgarden opened up the 2019 IndyCar season by winning the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden entered the 2019 IndyCar season opener, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, on the streets of St. Petersburg having never finished the race in the top six in seven career starts. He changed that with a victory, which was the 11th victory of his IndyCar career.

Newgarden, who started the 110-lap race around the 14-turn, 1.8-mile (2.897-kilometer) temporary street circuit in St. Petersburg, Florida in second place in his #2 Chevrolet, won it by 2.8998 seconds over Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, who was the race’s highest finishing Honda driver in second in his #9 Honda.

Team Penske’s Will Power, who started the race from the pole position, finished the race in third place in his #12 Chevrolet. Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Felix Rosenqvist and Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi rounded out the top five by finishing in fourth and fifth in their #10 Honda and #27 Honda, respectively.

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Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ James Hinchcliffe, Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud, Harding Steinbrenner Racing rookie Colton Herta, Dale Coyne Racing rookie Santino Ferrucci and Meyer Shank Racing’s Jack Harvey rounded out the top 10 by finishing in sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th place in their #5 Honda, #22 Chevrolet, #88 Honda, #19 Honda and #60 Honda, respectively.

The race featured a total of eight lead changes among four drivers. Aside of Newgarden, who led more laps than anybody else in the field with 60 laps led, three other drivers led at least one lap of the race. Those drivers were Power, Rosenqvist and Rossi.

The race also featured a total of two caution flag periods for 11 laps. The first of these two caution flag periods began on lap 20 as a result of the engine of Ryan Hunter-Reay’s #28 Andretti Autosport Honda blowing up on the front stretch, and the second of these two caution flag periods began on lap 26 as a result of an accident involving Ed Carpenter Racing’s Ed Jones and A.J. Foyt Enterprises’ Matheus Leist in turn nine.

Of the 24 drivers who started the race, 18 finished it. Of the 18 drivers who finished the race, 11 finished it on the lead lap.

Here are the full race results of the 2019 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

Race Results
1st – Josef Newgarden
2nd – Scott Dixon
3rd – Will Power
4th – Felix Rosenqvist
5th – Alexander Rossi
6th – James Hinchcliffe
7th – Simon Pagenaud
8th – Colton Herta
9th – Santino Ferrucci
10th – Jack Harvey
11th – Spencer Pigot
12th – Graham Rahal
13th – Marco Andretti
14th – Zach Veach
15th – Tony Kanaan
16th – Max Chilton
17th – Charlie Kimball
18th – Ben Hanley
19th – Takuma Sato
20th – Marcus Ericsson
21st – Ed Jones
22nd – Matheus Leist
23rd – Ryan Hunter-Reay
24th – Sebastien Bourdais

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The next race on the 17-race 2019 IndyCar schedule is the season’s second race, the IndyCar Classic, at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. This race is scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 24, and it is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET, so be sure not to miss it.