IndyCar – Robert Wickens on pole in St Petersburg

THEIndyCar Series wanted spectacle and suspense, here it is served. Indeed, qualifying for the St Petersburg Grand Prix, the opening round of the 2018 season, offered many twists and turns to the spectators present.

First of all, it was Josef Newgarden, the outgoing champion, who was eliminated in the first phase of qualifying. The Team Penske resident will start tomorrow from thirteenth position, two rows behind his teammate simon pagenaud, who saw his two best times from Q2 canceled for resulting in a red flag. Just like many of his opponents, including four-time champion Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing), the Poitevin rider was trapped by the rain.

If we believed that Will Power (Team Penske) was going to take his eighth pole position in St Petersburg, the Australian was knocked out of pole position by an impressive Robert Wickens (Schmit Peterson Motorsports). The Canadian rookie will therefore start tomorrow ahead of Power and two other beginners in the discipline, namely the very surprising Brazilian Matheus Leist (AJ Foyt Enterprises) and the British Jordan King (Ed Carpenter Racing), who beat the American during Fast 6 Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport).

Embarrassed during the group stages by the red flag waved following the error made by Graham Rahal (RLL Racing), Sébastien Bourdais (Dale Coyne Racing) will start 14th.