Chaos Ensues In Opening Indycar Practice At St. Petersburg, McLaughlin Tops The Timing Sheets

Scott McLaughlin In The #3 Dex Imaging Penske entry at St. Petersburg fastest in opening practice (Photo by: Joe Skibinski)

Scott McLaughlin for Team Penske tops the timing sheets in opening practice as it was a wild start to the season as opening practice was not kind to a number of drivers.

As the session began, Dale Coyne Racing rookie Dennis Hauger, who moves up from the Indy NXT Series after winning the championship in 2025, gets held on the pitlane for 5 minutes during the session due to a rear spring coming loose from the car.

With 25 minutes left in the session, Alexander Rossi goes for a spin, blocking part of the track and the red flag is displayed but keeps it out of the wall. Not long after the red flag is lifted, Rinus Veekay and Scott McLaughlin have a very close call heading into turn 11, nearly making contact with each other as it appeared McLaughlin was backing off his lap, meanwhile Veekay was still on a push lap.

In addition, Josef Newgarden went for a spin in turn 13 coming out of the chicane and lost control of the car, sliding through the grass but was able to just keep it out of the barrier.

Later on, in the first practice session for group 1, it was Scott Dixon who found the barrier in turn 9, bringing that practice session to an end. Dixon entered turn 9 with oversteer and made heavy contact with the wall, destroying the left front of his car, and David Malukas just behind him narrowly avoids him.

The trouble didn't stop there as in group 2 practice, Louis Foster locks up in the final corner and goes into the tire barrier nose first making heavy contact, ending his session.

The top 5 drivers at the conclusion of the first practice session are Scott McLaughlin, followed by Felix Rosenqvist, Kyle Kirkwood, Kyffin Simpson, and Marcus Ericsson.

Practice 2 begins tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM ET.