Marcus Armstrong accuses Colton Herta of derailing his Thermal Club GP qualifying

Meyer Shank Racing's Marcus Armstrong will start the Thermal Club IndyCar race in P7 on March 23rd. The Kiwi driver narrowly missed out on Fast 6 and slammed Colton Herta for preventing him from the same. However, the Andretti driver managed to get into the Fast 6.

Coming into the Thermal Club qualifying session, the Meyer Shank Racing cars looked strong, and Rosenqvist and Armstrong made it to the second session. However, in the second session, the New Zealander was impeded by Colton Herta on his first flying lap, yet no penalty was awarded to the Andretti Global driver.

As Armstrong just missed out on the Fast 6 by less than a tenth of a second, he came out to slam Colton Herta for impeding, and the race control for not penalizing the Cadillac F1 prospect. Speaking about the same with FOX, the MSR driver said,

“I mean, the car is super quick. I'm really disappointed we didn't make it through there, honestly. Colton (Herta) impeded me on the first run and didn't get any penalty, and he's the car that transferred right in front of me, so I'm kind of pissed off about that.”

The Kiwi then looked at the positive side and detailed the pace of the car. The 24-year-old will look to move forward during the race and score some big points from the team after the disappointing results at St. Pete.

“Look, the car's fast. From P7 we can do some good stuff tomorrow. I feel like Meyer Shank Racing has really got the car hooked up, so let's go for goals,” said Marcus Armstrong

Meyer Shank Racing had a strong showcase of qualifying and race pace at the maiden race of the 2025 IndyCar season at St. Petersburg. Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Armstrong made it to the Fast 6 at St. Pete and provisionally locked the front row. McLaughlin and Herta improved their times and the two MSR cars locked out the second row.

Pato O'Ward took the pole position, and Cotton Herta will start the race in P4. Armstrong's teammate Felix Rosenqvist will start in P9 and will line up behind the #66 MSR.

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Marcus Armstrong’s disappointing end to the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

After a wonderful qualifying session for Meyer Shank Racing, Marcus Armstrong started the race at St. Pete in P4 alongside his teammate. The Kiwi avoided any first-lap crashes, kept it clean, and was running with the lead group in the first half. The #66 entry even led three laps during this period.

However, midway through the race, while running in the Top 5 at St Pete, Armstrong brushed the wall, which damaged the rear suspension. The #66 Meyer Shank Racing came into the pits to repair the damage and change the tires and was sent out on the track once again.

Unfortunately, the damage was beyond repair, and Armstrong was eventually called into the pits to retire the car on Lap 46.