OPEN WHEEL

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – The pressure of an Verizon Indy Car Series debut is supposed be tough on rookies, but someone apparently forgot to tell the 2018 crop of first-year drivers.

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – The weekend after fans of ABC’s “The Bachelor” learned the controversial end to Arie Luyendyk Jr.’s season as the leading man on the reality series, the former Indy car driver was all smiles when he showed up for INDYCAR’s season opener, The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, on Sunday.

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – The crowd of fans parted and began chanting Robert Wickens’ name as his damaged race car was deposited at the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports transporter.

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – Will Power was chatty and smiling, sitting cross-legged on the pit wall. It was not the expected reaction after a two-time winner of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg finished 10th in a resoundingly mundane day for a team that had won the race eight of 14 times heading into today.

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – A new era of racing was expected to deliver the unexpected. That it certainly did here today.

(An updated race story with driver reaction will be published shortly.)

As part of INDYCAR's continuing strategic initiative, we are conducting a poll after each Verizon IndyCar Series event asking fans to provide their opinion on the race. Tell us what you thought of the 2018 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. We value your opinion. Provide your race rating on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest).

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – Two adjectives best describe the relationship between one team and the new universal aero kit. Tricky and tough.

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – Rookies may have surprised in Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg qualifying on Saturday, but veteran savvy returned to the fore in this morning’s final warmup practice before today’s Verizon IndyCar Series season opener.

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – A rookie starting from pole in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg after battling for top spot with another two newcomers in the Firestone Fast Six qualifying session shows the strength of the young talent attracted to the Verizon IndyCar Series.

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – Robert Wickens came to town as the former DTM touring car driver and childhood chum of new Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammate James Hinchcliffe. He’ll enter today as the pole-sitter for the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. It’s been an interesting and fruitful first Verizon IndyCar Series weekend for the rookie who doesn’t feel like a rookie.

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – Rob Buckner’s mandate as Chevrolet’s new racing program manager for the Verizon IndyCar Series is simple, but not necessarily easy: continue the performance level that has earned the company six consecutive manufacturer titles under Chevrolet director of motorsports competition Mark Kent.

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Saturday, March 10, 2018) – The unpredictability of the Verizon IndyCar Series reached a new and exciting level in Verizon P1 Award qualifying for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, with rookie Robert Wickens taking pole position in his debut event.