IndyCar – St Petersburg
A new team and a new car marked the beginning of the new season for Will Power, as he completed his transition from Team Penske to Andretti Global at the Grand Prix of St Petersburg.
A brush with the wall on turn 10 on his 45th birthday was not the way Power anticipated his Andretti debut in Florida to go, but that was unfortunately how the race panned out.
While Power was able to rejoin the race after an extensive repair time fixing damaged suspension, he was 20 laps behind the lead lap by this stage. Power had bright moments such as a seventh-fastest lap in his group’s qualifying, to fall just one spot outside the second qualifying session.
Power was able to clock 55 total laps in the feature race session before he returned back to the pit lane, and will look to regroup for Round 2 this week at the Good Ranchers 250 at the Phoenix Raceway in Arizona.
Indy NXT – St Petersburg
Australia’s impressive representation within the Indy NXT ranks made its debut with rising stars Jack Beeton and Nicolas Stati joining the grid alongside Lochie Hughes.
Practice was a gradual build-up for all three competitors with all three drivers not cracking the top 15 until the second session.
Hughes did well to finish second in his group for Qualifying (fourth combined), while Beeton and Stati finished seventh and ninth respectively in their group’s qualifying session.
Hughes remained composed to hold firm in the race order, ultimately dropping just one spot to pass the chequered flag in fifth along with a decent haul of points.
A less than ideal start to the race befell Beeton on the very first lap, being spun around with the field tightened, placing him at the back of the grid before lap 2.
Beeton dug deep for HMD Motorsports to climb his way up the placings to still finish higher than his qualifying position. Beeton got to as high up as P9 in the race, before settling for P11.
Stati performed with determination on his debut for Cusick Morgan Motorsports, managing to stay inside the top 20. The 17-year-old Western Australian crossed the finish line in 16th and will hopefully crack the top 15 in Round 2.
Round 2 of Indy NXT heads to Arlington, Texas in two weeks’ time for the Grand Prix of Arlington.
Spanish Winter Championship Eurocup-3 – Jarama
The second round of the Eurocup-3 pre-season schedule within the Spanish Winter Championship travelled through Jarama, where Gianmarco Pradel and Patrick Heuzenroeder continued their 2026 preparations with three races.
Qualifying 1 was a session to remember for Pradel, as he secured his first-ever pole position in the category, a milestone that underlined the growing depth of the grid. Pradel then managed to secure a podium position in Race 1 of the weekend while managing several safety car restarts.
The #12 MP Motorsport driver cooled off Sunday, finishing eighth in Race 2 to grab three more Championship points and 21st in Race 3.
Heuzenroeder also made his way into the points on the weekend after failing to qualify for the Sprint Race.
The 2025 GB3 Championship runner-up answered back in Race 2, finishing eighth. He then doubled down on this efforts by claiming seventh in the weekend’s final session.
The 23 points picked up by Pradel in Round 2 has propelled him up to eighth in the standings on 29 points, while the same was also the case for Heuzenroeder with 11 further points added to his total of 21, putting him 10th in the driver standings.
