Andretti Autosport’s Romain Grosjean in the No.28 DHL Honda says the team still have some speed to unlock from the car ahead of qualifying on Saturday after he set the fastest time on Friday.
We still have a bit more speed we can get out of the car to get it to my liking, but the car was really good, very smooth to drive. “I know Andretti has got a brilliant car on all the street courses. With Olivier last year, we had a really good car on road courses. Ovals, I know Andretti has got a good car, as well.
“I think with all of us, we can get something good. I’m happy that I’ve got really fast teammates. That’s going to push me to get better.”
Grosjean’s team-mate Colton Herta who won here last year was second fastest and speaking following the action he said:
It was a good start to the weekend here in St. Pete. The car felt very nice but we have a lot to improve on. To start second in the first session is a good place to start. The Gainbridge car is great and it’s another year where it seems like Honda power is very good – especially on street courses which is something to look forward to. Everything is starting out great.”
Alexander Rossi in the No.27 NAPA AutoNation Honda was sixth fastest and speaking following the action he said:
Glad to be back for the first race of the year in St. Pete. It’s an amazing turnout of the fans so far, which is very cool to see on a Friday. The NAPA / AutoNation car was pretty good by the end of the session and obviously the team showed good pace with the other cars. Not a lot to do overnight, just some small changes. We’ll look forward to coming back tomorrow and having the first qualifying session of the year.”
Colton Herta said:
“It was a good start to the weekend here in St. Pete. The car felt very nice but we have a lot to improve on. To start second in the first session is a good place to start. The Gainbridge car is great and it’s another year where it seems like Honda power is very good – especially on street courses which is something to look forward to. Everything is starting out great.”
Devlin DeFrancesco was 13th fastest on his practice debut and speaking following the action he said:
We finished day one here at St. Pete, we ended P13 but all-in-all happy with our first session – happy with where we started. We tried a few things on the car, and I think we look very good as a team. I’d say we’re very happy with our pace on [Firestone Primary] Blacks; we’ve got a good race car on Blacks. Going into tomorrow we’re going to try [Firestone Alternate] Reds for the first time and I’m really looking forward to it.”
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