IndyCar predicts winner for 2025 season opener at St. Petersberg using data

The 2025 IndyCar Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is just a short while away, and ahead of it, the predictions have started coming in. As per data from NTT, Andretti Global's Colton Herta could come out as the victor.

Yesterday's qualifying session at the St. Petersburg racetrack was a nerve-wracking affair with the drivers pushing to the limits. Team Penske's Scott McLaughin was able to secure pole position, but Colton Herta was not too far behind in P2.

Herta's final qualifying lap was 59.6393s in comparison to McLaughlin's 59.4624s. However, despite this fact, Herta is the one who IndyCar has predicted as the potential winner of the much-anticipated 100-lap race.

The 2024 edition of IndyCar's Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was won by Arrow McLaren driver Pato O'Ward. The 25-year-old came out as the winner despite ending his outing in P2 (Josef Newgarden was disqualified because of a push-to-pass infringement on his Team Penske car, the original P1 finisher). Colton Herta, on his end, ended his 2024 outing on the podium in third position.

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Colton Herta will give it 'full-send' in IndyCar's St. Petersburg race

While IndyCar data is backing the 24-year-old Colton Herta to triumph in the St. Petersburg race, he himself has declared that he will give it full beans in the 100-lap race.

Via his official X account, Herta, ahead of the upcoming race, came up with a post and wrote:

"Full send from the front row today. @indycar is finally back! Get locked in on @indycaronfox, it’s going to be a hell of a show," Colton Herta wrote.

Other than the front two of Scott McLaughlin and Colton Herta, they have Meyer Shank Racing drivers starting right behind them. Felix Rosenqvist is slated to kick off his outing from P3, whereas Marcus Armstrong is in fourth place.

Behind these two, Christian Lundgaard and the six-time world champion Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) are starting in P5 and P6. The former Indy 500 winner and Colton Herta's Andretti teammate, Marcus Ericsson, is in seventh place alongside the 2024 world champion Alex Palou. After this, the top 10 is rounded off by Kyle Kirkwood and the two-time world champion Josef Newgarden.

Keeping all this in view, the top-10 slots for the 2025 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg are stacked with immense talent. From Colton Herta and his team's perspective, it will be immensely important for him to get off the line really well.

If the 24-year-old is able to do so, he might be able to get the better of Scott McLaughlin in the initial few scraps. After that, it would all be about increasing the gap steadily at the front and coming away with a sensational win in the 100-lap race.