Fellow Andretti driver Kyle Kirkwood began the final qualifying session at a disadvantage, having used two sets of fresh alternate Firestones to get out of Q1, so had no fresh alternates for the last segment.
However, that issue seemed small when he slid straight on at the final turn, and missed the tyre barrier to crunch hard into the concrete.
Once the action resumed, Penske's Scott McLaughlin broke a right-rear toelink on the Turn 10 wall, which sent him into a pirouette through the chicane, causing another red flag.
Despite also suffering the same issue as Kirkwood in terms of having no fresh alternates, Marcus Ericsson briefly took top spot when the session finally began in earnest, but was soon deposed by Pato O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren and Colton Herta of Andretti Autosport.
Yet Grosjean then delivered a stunning final sector to beat Herta’s benchmark by 0.4155 seconds and claim his first pole position in an Andretti car.
O’Ward was just 0.0476s behind Herta and 0.42s ahead of Ericsson.
Earlier, Alexander Rossi sat top of the Q2 times after everyone’s first runs, with McLaughlin second but a full 0.28s behind, chased by Scott Dixon, Will Power and Herta.
Everyone then ducked in for fresh alternate ‘greens’, and Felix Rosenqvist delivered another sub one-minute effort, which was then shaded by Kirkwood.
There was disappointment for Chip Ganassi racers Alex Palou and Dixon, however, as they are set to start seventh and ninth.
Rosenqvist and Rossi were eighth and 12th for Arrow McLaren, and nine-time St. Pete polesitter Power only 10th, just ahead of Christian Lundgaard of RLL.
Two-time St. Pete winner Josef Newgarden was among the early Q1 casualties as he was unable to enjoy a truly clear lap and will therefore start only 14th, while Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing was inadvertently held up on a flyer by Palou.
Although he didn’t make it through, Argentine touring car ace Agustin Canapino did a commendable job in his first ever open-wheel qualifying session in the group 1 segment to wind up less than 1.2s slower than Rosenqvist’s benchmark and he will line up 21st.
IndyCar St. Petersburg - Qualifying results
Q3
| Cla | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Romain Grosjean |
 Andretti Autosport |
59.5532 | ||
| 2 | Colton Herta |
Andretti Autosport |
59.9687 | 0.4155 | 0.4155 |
| 3 |  Patricio O'Ward |
Arrow McLaren | 1'00.0163 | 0.4631 | 0.0476 |
| 4 |  Marcus Ericsson |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
1'00.4435 | 0.8903 | 0.4272 |
| 5 |  Scott McLaughlin |
Team Penske |
|||
| 6 | Kyle Kirkwood |
Andretti Autosport |
|||
| View full results | |||||
Q2
| Cla | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Colton Herta |
Andretti Autosport |
59.5442 | ||
| 2 |
Kyle Kirkwood |
Andretti Autosport |
59.6357 | 0.0915 | 0.0915 |
| 3 |
Romain Grosjean |
Andretti Autosport |
59.7320 | 0.1878 | 0.0963 |
| 4 |
Patricio O'Ward |
Arrow McLaren | 59.7367 | 0.1925 | 0.0047 |
| 5 |
Marcus Ericsson |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
59.7624 | 0.2182 | 0.0257 |
| 6 |
Scott McLaughlin |
Team Penske |
59.7686 | 0.2244 | 0.0062 |
| 7 |
 Alex Palou |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
59.7781 | 0.2339 | 0.0095 |
| 8 |
Felix Rosenqvist |
Arrow McLaren | 59.7971 | 0.2529 | 0.0190 |
| 9 |
Scott Dixon |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
59.8010 | 0.2568 | 0.0039 |
| 10 |
 Will Power |
Team Penske |
59.9482 | 0.4040 | 0.1472 |
| 11 |
 Christian Lundgaard |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
59.9618 | 0.4176 | 0.0136 |
| 12 |
Alexander Rossi |
Arrow McLaren | 1'00.0040 | 0.4598 | 0.0422 |
| View full results | |||||
Q1 G2
| Cla | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Colton Herta |
Andretti Autosport |
59.8220 | ||
| 2 |
Romain Grosjean |
Andretti Autosport |
59.8790 | 0.0570 | 0.0570 |
| 3 |
Scott Dixon |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
59.9397 | 0.1177 | 0.0607 |
| 4 |
 Devlin DeFrancesco |
Andretti Autosport |
1'00.3339 | 0.5119 | 0.3942 |
| 5 |
 Callum Ilott |
Juncos Hollinger Racing |
1'00.3868 | 0.5648 | 0.0529 |
| 6 |
Graham Rahal |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
1'00.3947 | 0.5727 | 0.0079 |
| 7 |
 Rinus van Kalmthout |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
1'00.4831 | 0.6611 | 0.0884 |
| 8 |
David Malukas |
Dale Coyne Racing |
1'00.5508 | 0.7288 | 0.0677 |
| 9 |
Alex Palou |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
1'00.6490 | 0.8270 | 0.0982 |
| 10 |
Josef Newgarden |
Team Penske |
1'00.7071 | 0.8851 | 0.0581 |
| 11 |
Alexander Rossi |
Arrow McLaren | 1'00.7839 | 0.9619 | 0.0768 |
| 12 |
Conor Daly |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
1'00.8639 | 1.0419 | 0.0800 |
| 13 |
Will Power |
Team Penske |
1'01.3379 | 1.5159 | 0.4740 |
| 14 |
Benjamin Pedersen |
A.J. Foyt Enterprises |
1'01.8685 | 2.0465 | 0.5306 |
| View full results | |||||
Q1 G1
| Cla | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Felix Rosenqvist |
Arrow McLaren | 59.9396 | ||
| 2 |
Christian Lundgaard |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
1'00.0121 | 0.0725 | 0.0725 |
| 3 |
Kyle Kirkwood |
Andretti Autosport |
1'00.0451 | 0.1055 | 0.0330 |
| 4 |
Patricio O'Ward |
Arrow McLaren | 1'00.1146 | 0.1750 | 0.0695 |
| 5 |
Scott McLaughlin |
Team Penske |
1'00.1201 | 0.1805 | 0.0055 |
| 6 |
Marcus Ericsson |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
1'00.2018 | 0.2622 | 0.0817 |
| 7 |
Marcus Armstrong |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
1'00.3158 | 0.3762 | 0.1140 |
| 8 |
 Helio Castroneves |
Meyer Shank Racing |
1'00.5049 | 0.5653 | 0.1891 |
| 9 |
Santino Ferrucci |
A.J. Foyt Enterprises |
1'00.5301 | 0.5905 | 0.0252 |
| 10 |
Jack Harvey |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
1'00.7270 | 0.7874 | 0.1969 |
| 11 | Agustin Canapino | Juncos Hollinger Racing |
1'01.0692 | 1.1296 | 0.3422 |
| 12 | Ray Robb | Dale Coyne Racing |
1'02.3711 | 2.4315 | 1.3019 |
| 13 |
Simon Pagenaud |
Meyer Shank Racing |
6'37.4112 | 5'37.4716 | 5'35.0401 |
| View full results | |||||
