St Petersburg IndyCar: Foyt's rookie Leist leads first practice
AJ Foyt Racing's rookie Matheus Leist topped the first practice session of the 2018 IndyCar season in St Petersburg
Leist's team-mate Tony Kanaan had led the way for most of the session on a street course considered unrepresentative due to lack of running and cooler temperatures.
But as more drivers lapped and the track rubbered in, Leist climbed inside the top 10 in the final 15 minutes.
He then set his fastest lap, a 1m01.7231s, in the final two minutes of the first practice.
Dale Coyne Racing's Sebastien Bourdais (pictured below), who won the race last year, put in a last minute lap to go second and was 0.0488 seconds slower than Leist.
Bourdais' time sent the two Andretti cars of Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alexander Rossi into third and fourth after the pair had battled for the top spot in the final 10 minutes.
Hunter-Reay and Rossi were among several drivers from the top three teams of Penske, Andretti and Chip Ganassi Racing who waited for the track to rubber in somewhat before joining.
Ganassi's Scott Dixon was another to take that approach and progressively improved his time through the running to go fifth fastest late on.
Former DTM driver Robert Wickens completed his first session as a full-time IndyCar driver for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in sixth and completed 20 laps, tied for the second most tours.
Penske's Simon Pagenaud was the team's quickest driver, running as high as third before falling to seventh.
Team-mate Will Power was eighth ahead of Kanaan, who caused the only red flag by spinning at the sharp-right Turn 4 following his early leaderboard-topping time.
Spencer Pigot was 10th ahead of Ed Carpenter Racing team-mate Jordan King.
Reigning champion Josef Newgarden could only finish 13th.
Carlin duo Max Chilton and Charlie Kimball were 20th and 21st on the team's IndyCar debut, ahead of last year's Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato.
FP1 times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matheus Leist | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m01.7231s | - | 20 |
| 2 | Sebastien Bourdais | Dale Coyne Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.7719s | 0.0488s | 15 |
| 3 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.8812s | 0.1581s | 14 |
| 4 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 1m02.0415s | 0.3184s | 15 |
| 5 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1m02.0560s | 0.3329s | 16 |
| 6 | Robert Wickens | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Dallara/Honda | 1m02.1833s | 0.4602s | 20 |
| 7 | Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m02.2162s | 0.4931s | 16 |
| 8 | Will Power | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m02.3069s | 0.5838s | 17 |
| 9 | Tony Kanaan | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m02.3370s | 0.6139s | 16 |
| 10 | Spencer Pigot | Ed Carpenter Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m02.3565s | 0.6334s | 14 |
| 11 | Jordan King | Ed Carpenter Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m02.4112s | 0.6881s | 15 |
| 12 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | Dallara/Honda | 1m02.4659s | 0.7428s | 16 |
| 13 | Ed Jones | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1m02.6148s | 0.8917s | 20 |
| 14 | Zachary Claman | Dale Coyne Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1m02.7376s | 1.0145s | 21 |
| 15 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m02.7667s | 1.0436s | 17 |
| 16 | Zach Veach | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 1m02.7902s | 1.0671s | 20 |
| 17 | Jack Harvey | Michael Shank Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1m02.8416s | 1.1185s | 21 |
| 18 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Herta | Dallara/Honda | 1m02.8843s | 1.1612s | 14 |
| 19 | James Hinchcliffe | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Dallara/Honda | 1m03.0515s | 1.3284s | 12 |
| 20 | Max Chilton | Carlin | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m03.3742s | 1.6511s | 18 |
| 21 | Charlie Kimball | Carlin | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m03.6210s | 1.8979s | 18 |
| 22 | Takuma Sato | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | Dallara/Honda | 1m03.6243s | 1.9012s | 13 |
| 23 | Gabby Chaves | Harding Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m04.1845s | 2.4614s | 17 |
| 24 | Rene Binder | Juncos Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m04.8859s | 3.1628s | 19 |
Previous article
AJ Foyt Racing expects star IndyCar signing Tony Kanaan to push it
Next article
IMSA SportsCar team Scuderia Corsa enters Indianapolis 500
About this article
| Series | IndyCar |
| Drivers | Matheus Leist |
| Author | Tom Errington |
The Indycar season that proves Michael Andretti is better than F1 showed
Often unfairly characterised as a car-breaker, judged for his lack of an Indianapolis 500 win and a disappointing part-season of Formula 1 in 1993, Michael Andretti was highly respected by his rivals and only thwarted greater success by ill-fortune. When it all came together in 1991, he was a truly formidable force
How McLaren is striving towards IndyCar's elite
The second year of McLaren's full-time IndyCar return is looming, with Patricio O'Ward and Felix Rosenqvist leading its line-up. Strong team personnel and work behind the scenes means that 2021 could be the year it joins the established elite
The enigmatic legacy of a misunderstood Indy stalwart
Flashes of brilliance amid spells of obscurity have been too common for Marco Andretti. While the third-generation racer has opted to bring his full-time IndyCar career to a close, his peaks and troughs have never been for want of trying
Why American racing's top dog is without equal
A byword for success in business and in motorsport for over 50 years, Roger Penske's importance to the US scene cannot be understated. In an exclusive interview, the custodian of the IndyCar Series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway reflects on his journey
The McLaren that rendered its Indy rivals obsolete
When founder Bruce McLaren died in June 1970, his team could have folded. Instead, his loyal band rallied to produce a string of winners - including an Indycar game-changer that won its third Indianapolis 500 five years after its debut
Why Newgarden's best IndyCar season yet wasn't enough
Josef Newgarden feels he didn't put a foot wrong in 2020, yet his finest season-long run of performances failed to yield a third series championship. But in a warning shot to Scott Dixon, Team Penske's team leader has vowed to redouble his efforts in 2021
How Dixon held on in IndyCar's most unpredictable season
Three wins on the trot gave the Chip Ganassi Racing superstar the cushion he needed to hang on for a sixth title in the face of Josef Newgarden's late challenge. Here's the rundown of a typically frantic IndyCar campaign in an extraordinary year
The balancing act required for improving racing at Indy
Calls for an improvement in the racing spectacle at the Indianapolis 500 have been met with small aerodynamic tweaks from IndyCar on superspeedways. But where such high speeds are involved, even minor adjustments require significant planning
