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Ericsson Wins Crash Marred Season Opener at St. Petersburg

Marcus Ericsson begins 2023 with a win at St. Petersburg. (Photo: James Black | Penske Entertainment)

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – Florida shenanigans kicking off the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series was certainly an understatement.

On a day where many hearts were broken, Chip Ganassi Racing had the last laugh on a bizarre Sunday with defending Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson surviving an attrition plagued Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Ericsson only led two laps, but they were the final two that counted.

Namely, Ericsson capitalized from an engine problem that Pato O’Ward experienced in Turn 14. His season opener win marked CGR’s first win at St. Petersburg since Dario Franchitti in 2011 and the fourth of his INDYCAR career.

“It was our day. I feel bad for him, but that’s racing,” said Ericsson. “We were having such a good weekend. The car was fantastic all the way through and we were hunting him down, putting the pressure on. Pretty proud of our team and it’s a helluva start to the season.”

The 100-lap race was marred with a series of crashes from the moment the race went green. Moments before disaster, Dixon made contact with Felix Rosenqvist, ruining his day and finishing in 19th.

Dixon, who rounded out the podium, felt bad over his misjudgment when he battled Rosenqvist.

Further back, Helio Castroneves was hit by Santino Ferrucci after a check up into Turn 3. This caused an awful ripple effect where multiple cars got collected.

Among those included Simon Pagenaud, Sting Ray Robb and Devlin DeFrancesco. Suddenly, Ferrucci’s teammate, Benjamin Pedersen, slammed into DeFrancesco, catapulting him up in the air.

Everyone exited their cars with Castroneves requiring an ice pack on his right leg, but x-rays came out negative. Consequently, such mayhem clogged up brought the rest of the field to pit lane (including Robb, who had front wing damage) as the action had to be stopped.

DeFrancesco was one of the first drivers to exit the care center and explained how treacherous Turn 3 has been all weekend.

“Not the way I wanted to start the season. We had our concerns for Turn 3 and that was the scenario that happened,” DeFrancesco said. “I saw Helio spinning in front of me and I hit the brakes. There was nowhere for me to go and then I saw (Benjamin), and knew ‘Yeah, this is going to be a big one. I braced up and got ready for it. It was a wild ride.”

Once the near 30-minute red flag was lifted, rookies continued having problems. On the Lap 6 restart, Marcus Armstrong had a flat right rear tire due to contact from David Malukas and was forced to pit.

Back up front, the primary Firestone compound came to life before Lap 30 as defending race winner Scott McLaughlin was pickpocketing his way towards the front. McLaughlin took the race lead for the first time when Grosjean made his first stop on Lap 33.

Three laps later, McLaughlin made his stop and beat Grosjean. Both fought hard for the lead before making contact.

Despite the paint trading, the advantage went to McLaughlin.

Not long after, a caution was out for Conor Daly when he tangled with Kyle Kirkwood, slowed down the madness.

Once the field was sorted out, McLaughlin beat Dixon (who had just pitted) off pit road due to the blend line, relegating him to fifth for the restart.

More chaos ensued on Lap 42 which saw the second car going airborne when Kirkwood slammed into the back of Jack Harvey, who collided with Rinus VeeKay.

As a result, VeeKay ran out of racing room while battling with Josef Newgarden.

“It’s very tricky out here. Josef was on the inside and I’m an inch out there. You’re out of grip and there’s nothing,” said VeeKay. “Very bummed because you want to finish every race, especially (at St Pete). We were doing very well, but we’ll bring it (in Texas).”

Kirkwood was able to continue his afternoon while Harvey took awhile to exit from his wounded No. 30 Honda, requiring further assistance from the AMR Safety Crew. Harvey would be taken to the local hospital, but remained in stable condition.

Not one lap after the race resumed, Herta was into the tire barriers in Turn 8 and ended his afternoon.

Yet again, lady luck dealt a bad hand to the second generation racer as contact from reigning INDYCAR champion Will Power led to another Andretti Autosport entry getting involved in a crash.

Power was penalized for his actions as he was relegated to the rear of the field.

“I thought I was pretty far ahead of him and I felt a tag in the left rear. I don’t what I can do there except for hitting the wall,” said Herta. “It sucks because we were fast. He hits me there and got me wind up.”

Power felt bad that he ruined Herta’s day, but he thought the latter was aware of his presence. Both drivers discussed this once Power finished seventh to start his title defense.

“We liked banged all the way in. I went up on the inside and had much lock as I could. I understeered and it wasn’t like a big divebomb, but I hate to ruin anyone’s day,” said Power. “I like to race these guys clean and he race’s me clean. I felt really bad he ended up out and I kept going.”

If Andretti had any joy left from a disastrous Sunday, Grosjean gave some hope as he ran in second.

“The Phoenix” pursued McLaughlin for several laps. Then the game of when’s the right time to pit while pondering about a potential caution became a focal point of the race. Grosjean ducked to pit lane first on Lap 70, sticking with primaries and ahead of Dixon and Pato O’Ward.

McLaughlin on the charge throughout the race. (Photo: James Black | Penske Entertainment)

Meanwhile, McLaughlin made his last stop a lap later, but faced some angst from rookie Augustin Canapino. Once exiting pit lane, McLaughlin beat Grosjean and neither gave an inch towards each other.

Suddenly, the final nail on the coffin for Andretti Autosport’s season opener happened.

In a cruel twist, McLaughlin and Grosjean collided in Turn 4, ending their otherwise fun battle for the win. McLaughlin was able to soldier on but had to serve a penalty for avoidable contact.

As for an irate Grosjean, it was game over.

“I think it was pretty obvious that I’m very disappointed,” said Grosjean, who led a race-high 31 laps. “I hope INDYCAR puts a rule in place. Today was not racing.”

Out of nowhere, O’Ward went from having a quiet day to the race lead as he held the number one spot once the field resumed green flag racing with 22 laps remaining. O’Ward had a superb restart and easily pulled away from the Ganassi duo of Marcus Ericsson and Dixon.

His lead over Ericsson was over 2.6 seconds. But with nine laps remaining, it was under a second.

Ericsson’s strategist, Taylor Kiel, noted the Indy 500 champion about O’Ward struggling with traction.

Newgarden’s up-and-down day went worse as fire was on the back end of his No. 2 Hitachi Chevrolet. He brought it back to pit road and the race continued under green. Giving the fans a showdown between O’Ward and Ericsson, but with another twist — the slow car of Robb, who was on the last car on the lead lap.

Robb playing a role became irrelevant as O’Ward got sideways due to a platinum fire shutting the engine off, losing the lead with two to go.

O’Ward pounded the steering wheel knowing a win was gone and like the Indy 500 a year ago, he had to see Ericsson relish the moment.

Humid and heartbroken was Pato O’Ward. (Photo: Chris Jones | Penske Entertainment)

A visibly shaken and angry O’Ward held his emotions and hopes such mistakes end now.

“We did everything right today. It’s always something and the boys deserved that win,” said O’Ward. “We gave that one away and we can’t have that happen anymore.”

Ericsson’s triumph was also noteworthy as Sunday marked Kiel’s first race as a Ganassi team strategist. A year ago, Kiel was O’Ward’s strategist at Arrow McLaren. Perhaps a sneak preview for “The Month of May” as Ganassi and McLaren are expected to be the heavyweight favorites and Sunday’s opener fueled the rivalry.

“(Taylor) has been a great addition to the team,” said Ericsson. “He’s brought a lot of experience and energy. He’s been great to work with so far. Win on your first try doesn’t get better than that. It’s such a great start to the season.”

Most importantly for Ericsson after winning in Florida, folks begin noticing him as a legitimate contender for wins throughout the championship trail.

“People forget us in some conversations when it comes to the championship,” said Ericsson. “We’re here to win and that’s our mission.”

After an emotionally driven race, INDYCAR won’t return in action until Sunday, April 2nd when the series heads to Texas Motor Speedway. Live coverage of the PPG 375 begins at Noon p.m. ET on NBC.

2023 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Results

  1. 8 – Marcus Ericsson
  2. 5 – Pato O’Ward
  3. 9 – Scott Dixon
  4. 7 – Alexander Rossi
  5. 77 – Callum Ilott
  6. 15 – Graham Rahal
  7. 12 – Will Power
  8. 10 – Alex Palou
  9. 45 – Christian Lundgaard
  10. 18 – David Malukas
  11. 11 – Marcus Armstrong (R)
  12. 78 – Agustin Canapino (R)
  13. 3 – Scott McLaughlin (-1 lap)
  14. 20 – Conor Daly (-1 lap)
  15. 27 – Kyle Kirkwood (-3 laps)
  16. 51 – Sting Ray Robb (R) (off course)
  17. 2 – Josef Newgarden (-5 laps)
  18. 28 – Romain Grosjean (crash)
  19. 6 – Felix Rosenqvist (retired)
  20. 26 – Colton Herta (crash)
  21. 21 – Rinus VeeKay (crash)
  22. 30 – Jack Harvey (crash)
  23. 06 – Helio Castroneves (crash)
  24. 14 – Santino Ferrucci (crash)
  25. 29 – Devlin DeFrancesco (crash)
  26. 60 – Simon Pagenaud (crash)
  27. 55 – Benjamin Pedersen (R) (crash)

Throughout my young motorsports media career, my number-one goal is to be a personnel that can be flexible with my writing and photography in the world of NASCAR and INDYCAR. Content delivery is vital because this is my main passion and what keeps me going. On the side, I also do sports production ranging from Seattle Kraken hockey to the 2023 NCAA Women's March Madness. All for the love of the game. With four National Motorsports Press Association photography awards, I'm not slowing down anytime soon. Outside of media, I'm super vocal about my musical tastes that goes from Metallica to HAIM. At times, there might be some Paul Thomas Anderson and Southern California references in my social media.

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