IndyCar team Andretti Global had “a good start to the 2026 season” in St. Pete with two top 10 finishes and a DNF from newest driver, Will Power.
Andretti Global ended St. Pete with Kyle Kirkwood finishing P4, Marcus Ericsson starting on the front row in second but finishing the race in P6, and Power ending his weekend early after smacking the same wall twice in one weekend.
Andretti Global Team Principal Ron Ruzewski leveraged Krikwood’s positive drive to secure a near-podium finish, with Ericsson’s fall from P2 to P6 and Power’s unfortunate DNF. With two races left in IndyCar’s opening triple header, Ruzewski hopes to “gain momentum going forward“.
Ruzewski shared in Andretti Global’s St. Pete Race Report, “Today was a good start to the 2026 season. Two cars in the top six with a spirited drive by Kyle. The No. 27 team did an aggressive undercut and good pit strategy, which put them in the fight. Unfortunately, we just fell a little shy of the podium. I’m proud of the No. 28 car and their day. It didn’t quite play out the way that they wanted, but it’s still a top-six finish. The No. 26 car will continue to build on this. We’ll gain momentum going forward and continue to focus on the rest of the season.”
Power’s unfoutunate start with Andretti Global
Power’s first race with Andretti Global ended early without a fight. After his clash with the wall on Lap 21, the Australian was able to bring the No. 26 car back to the pits for repairs. Although Power made it back to the track, the No. 26 car was many, many laps down. The 45-year-old called his race early, finishing P23.
However, Power hopes to get back on track with Phoenix.
“Today felt like the same [braking] issue I had the other day when I hit the wall. It’s the exact same problem that we’ve been having. I feel really bad for the No. 26 guys who were doing such a good job. The car was really good, and it’s just been like this the whole weekend. I just feel really bad for the team, but we’ll be back on track in a few days, so we’re going to work on getting this worked out for Phoenix.”
Kirkwood and the No. 27 team’s show of stategy
Kyle Kirkwood continued his show of force on street courses in St. Pete. However, the 27-year-old attributed his climb from P15 to P4 to “the short run play” so he could achieve his highest finish in St. Pete.
He undercut in both stints, allowing him to get into 2nd at one stage. However, high fuel management in the final stint allowed McLaughlin and Lundgaard to pass him.
“We had an amazing strategy today. Definitely not the long run play, but the short run play to get us a better track position, and that’s what got us that fourth place. Of course, we wanted to hang on for second or third, but honestly, after starting from 15th, you can’t really ask for much more than finishing inside the top five. This is my best finish here from one of the worst positions that I’ve started in. I’m really happy with this day.”
Krikwood celebrated the No. 27 team and Bryan Herta for taking the gamble to achieve a top-five finish.
“Andretti gave me a rocket ship, and strategy played out beautifully. It’s also my best finish here by one position. I like battling against these guys at the front. I’ve raced a lot against Scott [McLaughlin], Christian [Lundgaard] and Alex [Palou], but I just need to start a little bit further up to really challenge them. Good day overall for the No. 27 team. We had one of our biggest hard-charging moments that we’ve seen here at St. Petersburg, and that was just pure pace. So, hats off to the crew and props to Bryan [Herta] for recognizing the pace and the undercut availability, because that’s where we really made the big bucks today.”
Ericsson’s bad luck on the red tyres
Ericsson started Sunday with a front row start, but ended shy of the top five. The 35-year-old attributed his position fall to the deterioration of the softer red tyres in his second stint.
On a used set, he fell off a cliff at the end of it, losing seconds a lap and positions through the stops. In the end he had to settle for P6.
“It was a disappointing race. Starting in the front row and finishing sixth is not what we were looking for. I think that just having one set of sticker reds just hurt our day. We were really good on primaries, but on that second stint, I used reds, and we just died on them. Unfortunately, that just cost us the race. Otherwise, a podium was there. We were on pace for that.”
Although he had a disappointing race, the Swedish driver had a successful opening weekend with his P2 start and satisfactory practice sessions. Ericsson hopes to continue the positive performance in Phoenix.
“But I’m still very proud of the whole weekend. I think we performed really well every session, including a great qualifying. The only thing we didn’t execute was the race, and the second stint cost us the podium. But this is still a good start to the season, and we have Phoenix next weekend.”
