For the second consecutive year, Pato O’Ward began the IndyCar Series season with a runner-up result on the Streets of St. Petersburg.
Although no one appeared to have the pace to keep up with Josef Newgarden, who led 92 of 100 laps en route to a Team Penske 1-3-4, O’Ward’s No. 5 Arrow McLaren was lurking for the majority of the race before fading late to finish 7.9121s at the checkered flag. The 24-year-old Mexican, who now has three runner-up results in five starts on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit, held steady in the rearview mirrors of Newgarden for 63 of the last 65 laps.
It meant that our guys that didn't qualify very well, it was always going to be a hard slog here when you don't qualify well, but that made it even harder. “I think last year we ended up in a position to win because a lot of people in front of us put a foot wrong and then it didn't go our way at the end of the day. But this year, you know, fully deserve to be where we were.