Newgarden plays it to perfection in St Pete

He messed up his pole run in qualifying, but Penske’s 2017 champion went on an alternative strategy in the race and then produced a masterclass

DAVID MALSHER

Team Penske president Tim Cindric, who also acts as Josef Newgarden’s tactician, has a buzzword – “execute” – and that’s what the 2017 champion did to perfection to win in St Petersburg last Sunday. Newgarden was furious at himself late on Saturday afternoon after being handed a tyre advantage in qualifying and then squandering it, allowing Penske team-mate Will Power to take pole position. Newgarden’s group in Q1 had their session disrupted by red flags at both the beginning and the end, so to get through to Q2 Newgarden had only needed to put in a solitary fast lap. Quality opposition such as two-time St Petersburg winner Sebastien Bourdais and Simon Pagenaud were unable to set representative times between red-flag periods, caused by Marco Andretti stopping in pitlane entry with a…

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Autosport (Digital) - 1 Issue, 14/03/19

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