Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Qualifying Report

Circuit: Bayfront Park (1.8-mile temporary circuit) St. Petersburg, FL
2015 Winner: Juan Pablo Montoya (Team Penske) 86.735 mph average
Weather: Sunny, warm, 81 degrees F

Top-12 Qualifying Results:

Ps.

Driver

Team

Manufacturer

Best Time

Notes

1.

Will Power

Team Penske

Chevrolet

1:00.2450

Fast Six Final Qualifying

2.

Simon Pagenaud

Team Penske

Chevrolet

1:00.4421

Fast Six

3.

Helio Castroneves

Team Penske

Chevrolet

1:00.4995

Fast Six

4.

Juan Pablo Montoya

Team Penske

Chevrolet

1:00.5312

Fast Six

5.

Scott Dixon

Chip Ganassi Racing

Chevrolet

1:00.5395

Fast Six

6.

Ryan Hunter-Reay

Andretti Autosport

Honda

1:00.8803

Fast Six

7.

Graham Rahal

Rahal Letterman Lanigan

Honda

1:00.5893

2nd Round Qualifying

8.

Sebastien Bourdais

KVSH Racing

Chevrolet

1:00.6711

2nd Round Qualifying

9.

James Hinchcliffe

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports

Honda

1:00.6724

2nd Round Qualifying

10.

Jack Hawksworth

A.J. Foyt Racing

Honda

1:00.7188

2nd Round Qualifying

11.

Takuma Sato

A.J. Foyt Racing

Honda

1:00.9745

2nd Round Qualifying

12.

Josef Newgarden

Ed Carpenter Racing

Chevrolet

1:01.0571

2nd Round Qualifying

Other Honda Results

13.

Carlos Munoz

Andretti Autosport

Honda

1:01.3745

1st Round, Group 1

15.

Marco Andretti

Andretti Autosport

Honda

1:01.4819

1st Round, Group 1

16.

Luca Filippi

Dale Coyne Racing

Honda

1:01.2879

1st Round, Group 2

18.

Mikhail Aleshin

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports

Honda

1:01.5655

1st Round, Group 2

19.

Alexander Rossi-R

Andrettti Herta Autosport

Honda

1:01.5198

1st Round, Group 1

21.

Conor Daly-R

Dale Coyne Racing

Honda

1:01.8598

1st Round, Group 1

22.

Spencer Pigot-R

Rahal Letterman Lanigan

Honda

1:02.3670

1st Round, Group 2

Hunter-Reay, Honda To Start Sixth at St. Petersburg

  • Rahal qualifies seventh, seeks second St. Petersburg victory
  • Hinchcliffe returns with top-10 qualifying run
  • A.J. Foyt Racing teammates Hawksworth, Sato advance to second round

Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay led the Honda field Saturday in qualifying for Sunday's Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, advancing to the "Fast Six" final qualifying round to post the sixth-fastest time in preparation for the opening round of the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series championship.

For the second consecutive year, Team Penske drivers claimed the top four starting positions. However, Graham Rahal will start seventh at the event where he scored his first career Indy car victory in 2008. In his return to Indy car racing after suffering serious injuries last May at Indianapolis, James Hinchcliffe qualified ninth. Jack Hawksworth rounded out the top 10 for Honda, with his A.J. Foyt Racing teammate Takuma Sato qualifying 11th.

Sunday's 110-lap season-opening round of the Verizon IndyCar Series starts at 12:30 p.m. EDT, with live network television coverage on ABC.

Ryan Hunter-Reay (#28 Andretti Autosport Honda): "We have to go back and talk about the [setup for the] race, today we were just focused on qualifying. It's a new [aero] kit, it's a work in progress. I have to talk myself into being happy about qualifying the DHL Honda sixth today, and that's hard to do, but it's better than we qualified here last year. I think this new aero kit and the Honda engine have put us closer [to the front], but we still need to do make improvements."