IndyCar

Marcus Ericsson dodged multiple incidents in a chaotic season-opening race for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, winning the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg ...

None of the drivers involved in the incident was hurt. 14 AJ FOYT RACING/SEXTON PROPERTIES Chevrolet and rookie Benjamin Pedersen in the No. 55 AJ FOYT RACING/SEXTON PROPERTIES Chevrolet, rookie Sting Ray Robb in the No. 51 biohaven Honda and Devlin DeFrancesco in the No. 60 AutoNation/Sirius XM, AJ Foyt Racing teammates Santino Ferrucci in the No. O’Ward took the lead on Lap 74 when leader Scott McLaughlin in the No. Alexander Rossi finished fourth in the No. The No. 06 AutoNation/Sirius XM Honda and Simon Pagenaud in the No. Then the trailing No. Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Scott Dixon finished third in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Honda over runner-up Pato O’Ward in the No.

The race was just seconds old when chaos reigned on the streets of St Petersburg in Florida.

It looked like a bad crash back there.” * But the back markers came up at speed and multiple cars were involved in a crash that saw one go airborne after being T-boned. [Dixon](https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/motorsport/131379757/triple-treat--kiwis-to-the-fore-as-indycar-revs-up?rm=a) appeared not to see Felix Rosenqvist as they snaked through the second turn and tapped tyres, causing his former team mate to check and go into the wall of the tight street course. I hope everyone is OK.

Devlin DeFrancesco walked away without a scratch following an airborne crash in the opening lap of the first race of the IndyCar season in St Petersburg, ...

Grosjean was furious, first throwing his arms up in disgust, and then pounding his first on the stack of tires as he screamed. Ericsson, meanwhile, passed Pato O’Ward for the win with three laps remaining when O’Ward suffered a brief loss of power. But it was supposed to be an Andretti car in victory lane, at least based on the speed the team showed all weekend. Petersburg for a surprise victory for Chip Ganassi Racing on a swampy day in Florida. Rinus VeeKay had slid into a tire barrier, Harvey ran into the back of VeeKay and Kirkwood launched over both cars. I saw the 55 coming and thought, yep, this is going to be a big one.

Marcus Ericsson inherited the lead after engine trouble for Pato O'Ward, leading the final four laps of a chaotic IndyCar opener in St. Petersburg.

Julia Vazier said Harvey was taken to the hospital because of “an abundance of caution.” We had a super fast car, and the team did a really good job, but I’m really annoyed to be talking to you with the race going on. “I don’t know what else I can do there except hit the wall. “He wanted to use the next state over for room on the exit,” Herta told NBC Sports’ Kevin Lee about Power while watching the replay. — Marcus Ericsson won a chaotic IndyCar season opener, leading the final four laps of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Pete and first since Dario Franchitti in 2011.

Marcus Ericsson won the St Petersburg IndyCar opener after leaders Romain Grosjean and Scott McLaughlin collided and Pato O'Ward's car cut out.

0 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Graham Rahal 3 Laps Led Laps All escaped unhurt, while the race was red-flagged for a spell. Herta had been second early on but lunched his tyres and fell back as others got ahead on strategy. The long caution helped Dixon run fewer laps on the soft tyre than his top 10 rivals who started on the harder compound. As the Rahal Letterman Lanigan car hit VeeKay’s crashed Carpenter machine, Kyle Kirkwood was caught up too and literally vaulted over both. After the race he apologised multiple times.

Nine of the IndyCar field's record 27 cars at the St. Pete season-opener were involved in a massive Lap 1 accident that red flagged Sunday's race.

Power was sent to the back of the field for his role in the incident, and Herta's day was done, becoming the eighth car eliminated from the field (Rosenqvist was able to make it back on-track, 40 laps down, after his Lap 1 crash). I'm really bummed because I really wanted to finish the first race of the season and carry that momentum. "He wanted to use the next state over for his exit there. Everyone checked up, and I just smoked the brakes and went straight into the back of Helio. Once the red flag was thrown, the race was paused for nearly 20 minutes as the AMR Safety Team cleared the cars and carnage. I thought I was going to be okay, but the way he then came around, it hit my right-rear, and that killed our race." He told the NBC broadcast he had "a little finger issue" but was otherwise 'OK'. Running just behind him, Jack Harvey couldn't avoid the Ed Carpenter Racing car and barreled into the ride side of him. "I'm fine, but it was a really hard knock and not the way you want to start the season," DeFrancesco said. I thought I was clear, but you saw in the mirror that it backed up, and it must've been a slightly bigger hit for him." He was on the reds, so he was probably going to get me anyways. Dixon's hip-check then sent Rosenqvist into the wall, damaging his car enough to continue pinballing down the track and slowing.

Marcus Ericsson opened his 2023 season in style after passing Pato O'Ward with four laps to go to clinch victory in a chaotic crash-strewn IndyCar season ...

Rahal and Power demoted Palou on the final lap to claim sixth and seventh. O’Ward staved off Ericsson on the restart, and the Swede had his mirrors full of Dixon. Grosjean was out on the spot, while McLaughlin was bumpstarted and went to the pits. The McLaren driver was also having to keep his eye on his mirrors for Dixon and Ericsson who were both edging away from Rossi, Palou, Newgarden and Callum Ilott of Juncos Hollinger Racing. Thankfully the next restart was clean and stayed clean, and Grosjean did a superb job on primary tyree to hang on to McLaughlin on alternates over the next laps. For the second time in 45 laps, an Andretti car was sent into the air. The second Meyer Shank car of [Simon Pagenaud](https://www.autosport.com/driver/simon-pagenaud/829686/) and [Dale Coyne Racing](https://www.autosport.com/team/dale-coyne-racing/36587/)’s rookie Sting Ray Robb was also involved. McLaughlin emerged from the pits ahead of Grosjean and the pair went side by side down to Turn 4. Herta then pitted on lap 27, and Kirkwood on lap 28. By lap 23, Grosjean had dropped Herta by 5.5s, and Herta was dropping into the clutches of O’Ward and Ericsson. Lundgaard made an error that saw him lose 10th to Malukas but the DCR driver soon pitted as Race Control ordered him to serve a drive-through penalty. The impact sent Rosenqvist into the outside wall at Turn 3 and was left limping to the pits with left-rear damage.

Jack Harvey was taken to a hospital for observation and Helio Castroneves needed an ice pack and X-rays. A pair of cars went airborne, the leaders crashed ...

Grosjean was furious, first throwing his arms up in disgust, and then pounding his first on the stack of tyres as he screamed. Rinus VeeKay had slid into a tire barrier, Harvey ran into the back of VeeKay and Kirkwood launched over both cars. A seven-car accident on the very first lap knocked five cars out of the race, including Andretti driver Devlin DeFrancesco, who was sent airborne when rookie Ben Pedersen slammed directly into his stopped car. But it was supposed to be an Andretti car in victory lane, at least based on the speed the team showed all weekend. A pair of cars went airborne, the leaders crashed each other and the entire Andretti Autosport fleet was eliminated. Petersburg for a surprise victory for Chip Ganassi Racing on a swampy Sunday in Florida.

Scott McLaughlin has admitted that the collision that took Romain Grosjean out of the St. Petersburg IndyCar opener was his mistake, and says that he'll ...

“I'm very disappointed and I hope there's going to be rules put in place. I’ll go and see him soon.” “I just made a big mistake. He was given a drive-through penalty for unnecessary contact and went on to finish the race in 13th, while Grosjean was classified 18th. As they charged towards Turn 4, Grosjean attempted to outbrake him around the outside but McLaughlin also went deep under braking, locked his rears and took them both out into the tyre barrier. Petersburg IndyCar opener was his mistake, and says that he’ll apologise to the Frenchman.