Pagenaud felt 'a little rusy' at start, but rebounded in Firestone GP

For the superstitious, Simon Pagenaud’s start to the 2017 season was a good omen as he brought the No. 1 PPG Automotive Refinish Chevrolet home in second place just as he did a season ago when he ultimately captured the series championship.

A subpar qualifying performance on Saturday pushed Pagenaud to the rear of the field for a Sunday start in the 14th position.

“All in all, I’m happy with the [qualifyng] results," Pagenaud said." After qualifying, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but my PPG Chevy team showed why they are champions by figuring out how to get more speed out of the car. These cars are so precise and certain things change year-to-year. That can be upsetting."

A Lap 1 incident involving Charlie Kimball and Graham Rahal opened the door for Pagenaud to quickly to crack the top 10. Following pit stops during the first caution of the day at Lap 26, Pagenaud claimed the lead and held it until eventual race winner Sebastien Bourdais made his way past on Lap 37.

The No. 1 team saved a new set of Firestone alternate red tires for Pagenaud’s final stint of the race, but it was not quite enough for the reigning champ to catch Bourdais. Pagenaud was able to trim the lead to just over a second, but the aggressive driving elevated the tire temperatures on the PPG Chevy and accelerated the degradation on the Firestones.

At the finish, Pagenaud crossed the line just over 10 seconds behind Bourdais for his fourth consecutive top-five result at St. Petersburg. With 13 laps led in the race, Pagenaud has led a lap in 14 of the last 18 INDYCAR races.

"I’m not entirely sure how I got through that thing on the first lap. I just relied on my instinct and it worked out," Pagenaud said. "I admit that I felt a little rusty earlier in the weekend but it was a lot better today. We started with a second here last year, so maybe that’s a good omen. We’ve got another test before Long Beach, so we’ll be ready to go when we get to California.”