On Track This Week '17 - Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

The long wait is over. The drivers have rested. The teams have tested. And today the 21cars of the Verizon IndyCar series take to the streets of St. Petersburg Florida, to begin practicing for the 14th running of the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Here are the details:

Event: Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
Venue: Albert Whitted Airport/Streets of St. Petersburg
Track Type: 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit
Track Map)

Here is a virtual lap around the circuit:



(Follow along with the Track Map

TV: We're kicking off the season on ABC. Which means race day coverage only. The IndyCar race will be live, while the Lights races will be tape-delayed to a future date on NBCSports. The ABC/ESPN teams consists of Allen Bestwick as the lead announcer, joined by Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever in the booth. Jerry Punch, Rick DeBruhl and Jon Beekhuis will be on the ground as pit reporters. From TSOnline: Two new features will debut during the telecasts this year. The first is an exclusive usage of a predictive analytics system built especially for IndyCar racing that will bring viewers closer to the strategy that often determines race winners. The second innovation is the use of a visor cam for ABC’s course description segment. Sunday’s telecast begins with a half-hour pre-race show at noon on Sunday.

Web/radio: Mark Jaynes returns as chief announcer. Joining him in the booth will be analyst Davey Hamilton. All Verizon IndyCar Series races are broadcast live on the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network, Sirius 212, XM 209, IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com and on the INDYCAR Mobile app.

Video Streaming: All non-televised sessions for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be available on the INDYCAR YouTube channel:


Qualifying for races telecast by ABC will also be available via live streaming.

For those on Twitter this weekend, be sure follow along with:
@GPSTPETE

Other follow/bookmark suggestions:
@indycar, @indycarPR
oh, and of course @openwheelworld ;-)

The official #hashtag for the event is: #FirestoneGP
Other hastags to follow: #indycar #indycar2016 #follow4IndyCar

Here is this weekend's Entry List

Here is this weekend's Spotter's Guide

Here is the weekend schedule:
(All times local/ET)

Fri, Mar 10th
7:55am – 8:15am - USF2000 Qualifying #1
8:20am – 8:50am - Pro Mazda Practice #1
9:05am – 9:50am - Indy Lights Practice #1
10:40am – 11am - USF2000 Qualifying #2
11:15am – noon - IndyCar Practice #1
1:30pm – 2pm - Pro Mazda Qualifying #1
2:15 – 2:45pm - Indy Lights Qualifying #1
3pm – 3:45pm - IndyCar Practice #2

Sat, Mar 11th
7:30am – 7:50am - Pro Mazda Qualifying #2
7:55am – 8:25am - Indy Lights Qualifying #2
8:40am – 9:20am - USF2000 Race #1
10:50am – 11:35am - IndyCar Practice #3
11:50am – 12:40pm - Pro Mazda Race #1
2pm – 2:40pm - USF2000 Race #2
2:55pm – 4:10pm - IndyCar Qualifying
5:10pm – 6pm - Indy Lights Race #1

Sun, Mar 12th
9am – 9:30am - IndyCar Warm-Up
9:45am – 10:45am - Indy Lights Race #2
12:30PM - Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (110 laps)
4:30pm – 5:20pm - Pro Mazda Race #2