Cars, part of the USF2000 series, drive by. Photo courtesy of Isabella Ferrou.
The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg began on Friday, Feb. 27, with INDYCAR, NASCAR, and Mazda descending on downtown St. Pete for a day of practices, qualifiers, and races.
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By Terry Hunsicker
TAMPA, Fla. — On Friday, Feb. 27, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg began. The three-day motorsport event, located in downtown St. Pete on the waterfront, will feature the start of the NTT IndyCar Series and the INDY NXT season, as well as events from NASCAR’s CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, the USF2000 Championship Series, and the Mazda MX-5 Cup Series.
Friday’s events featured the first of two USF2000 races, practices for the IndyCar drivers, qualifiers for the MX-5 Cup, and the street-track debut for the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. NASCAR Trucks will race on streets for the first time on Saturday, Feb. 28.
During a press conference, IndyCar driver Josef Newgarden of Team Penske said that he doesn’t think anybody knows how the trucks and their tire rubber will affect IndyCar and the track quality during the weekend.
“So you just gotta be prepared for it and try to adjust,” said Newgarden. “It’ll just be a challenge that everyone’s gotta go through.”
NASCAR Trucks began practice runs at 4 p.m. At Turn 5 of the 14-turn course, trucks could be seen struggling to hit a consistent angle. After just 11 minutes, rain interrupted further events for the day and cancelled qualifying races. Connor Mosack was awarded pole position for Saturday’s OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 through the metric score system. Pole position grants a driver the right to the first starting position of an official race.
The weather throughout the day was cloudy, with light fog in the morning. Despite the initial poor conditions, fans still arrived in droves. An assortment of food trucks and merchandise vendors were placed throughout the venue, encompassing Pioneer Park and the Salvador Dalí museum, with often narrow pathways connecting fans to open standing and seating areas.
Early in the day, USF2000 held its qualifying rounds and first full race of the weekend. Sebastian Garzon, representing team DEForce Racing, won both pole position and the first race, having completed 20 laps in just 26 minutes and 37.7023 seconds.
During the first practice session for INDY NXT, Max Taylor of team Andretti Global set the fastest lap speed. Placing 13 out of 24, rookie Max Garcia of Abel Motorsports made his INDY NXT debut at just 16 years old with a fastest lap time of 1 minute and 5.9859 seconds.
“It’s what I’ve been working for,” said Garcia. “I’m just really, really proud to call myself an INDY NXT driver.”
Garcia won the USF2000 race at St. Pete in 2024. He said there were some minor changes compared to his last time on the course, such as a repaved road on Turn 4 and Turn 5 that he said could affect him and the other drivers.
“Every time I come to a street track, it’s kind of a relearning process for me,” said Garcia. “I always try and relearn the track.”
During qualifying rounds for the Mazda MX-5 Cup, rookie Matt Novak earned pole position for the first of two MX-5 Cup races with a fastest lap time of one minute and 24.157 seconds. He will open the race and Saturday’s Grand Prix events at 7:30 a.m.