During Practice 1, McLaughlin whacked the wall coming out of Turn 3 and wound up with significant suspension damage.
Still, the Kiwi ended the session with the third fastest time – his crash coming in the dying moments.
McLaughlin fans might’ve been concerned by his pace in Practice 2, having only been 18th and 0.6 off the pace. However, those fears were allayed when he stormed to pole position.
The Team Penske driver topped the Fast Six, lapping the part-street, part-airport course in 59.4624s.
Colton Herta was second for Andretti Global while Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Armstrong ended up third and fourth respectively.
McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon rounded out the top six.
McLaughlin praised his team after their efforts to get his car fixed overnight.
“Just a huge amount of respect and we have so much trust in each other and they trusted that I could do the job today in the Dex Imaging Chevy,” he said.
“We call it the Printer Wagon, we love it, it’s new to Fox, but it’s a fast printer and the guys and girls on this team are stars.
“I had to repay them. I made a silly little mistake there and I was glad to come back with them.”
“I just wanted to get the first pole of the year. Good vibes, it’s just great vibes, immaculate vibes we like to say. I’m very excited.
“Great spot to start and we’ll do what we can in the race and see how we go. I’m really proud of everyone at Team Chevy, everyone at Chevy in the off-season.
“It’s hard to keep doing this and keep being fast. There’s a ton of respect and competitive down pit lane so to keep doing this is amazing.”
A crash for Scott McLaughlin in opening @IndyCar practice!
He has been seen and released from the medical center in St. Petersburg. pic.twitter.com/BTOzIuTEik
— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) February 28, 2025
Last year’s champion Alex Palou missed the cut to get into the Fast 6 but wll start eighth alongside Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Marcus Ericsson. Kyle Kirkwood and Josef Newgarden rounded out the top 10.
Australia’s Will Power qualified 13th. He bemoaned a moment of understeer during his flying lap that he said cost him a shot at progressing to the Fast Six.
Nevertheless, the two-time series champion offered an optimistic view for Monday’s race.
“At the beginning of the lap, you don’t quite have enough temperature in the front tyre,” he explained.
“I should have slowed the middle a bit more and carried just a little bit much in the middle and just pushed out to the wall and had to lift.
“That was easily enough time to get through. I missed out by less than half a tenth. Man, you can’t leave anything on the table in this series.
“It’s going to be an interesting race actually. These [soft compound] tyres, maybe that’s a good strategy play from there and maybe it’s a good thing we went from there, we’ll see.”
Results: IndyCar Grand Prix of St Petersburg, Qualifying
| Pos | Num | Driver | Team | Lap |
| 1 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske | 59.4624 |
| 2 | 26 | Colton Herta | Andretti Global | 59.6393 |
| 3 | 60 | Felix Rosenqvist | Meyer Shank Racing | 59.6989 |
| 4 | 66 | Marcus Armstrong | Meyer Shank Racing | 59.8278 |
| 5 | 7 | Christian Lundgaard | McLaren | 59.8663 |
| 6 | 9 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | 59.9216 |
| Top 12 | ||||
| 7 | 28 | Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:00.0034 |
| 8 | 10 | Alex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:00.0363 |
| 9 | 27 | Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti Global | 1:00.0491 |
| 10 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | 1:00.1424 |
| 11 | 6 | Nolan Siegel | McLaren | 1:00.2257 |
| 12 | 18 | Rinus VeeKay | Dale Coyne Racing | 1:00.3086 |
| Group Qualifying | ||||
| 13 | 12 | Will Power | Team Penske | 59.8752 |
| 14 | 30 | Devlin DeFrancesco | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 1:00.1019 |
| 15 | 8 | Kyffin Simpson | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:00.0095 |
| 16 | 45 | Louis Foster | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 1:00.2365 |
| 17 | 4 | David Malukas | AJ Foyt Racing | 1:00.0128 |
| 18 | 83 | Robert Shwartzman | Prema Racing | 1:00.4609 |
| 19 | 14 | Santino Ferrucci | AJ Foyt Racing | 1:00.0141 |
| 20 | 20 | Alexander Rossi | Ed Carpenter Racing | 1:00.4871 |
| 21 | 15 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 1:00.0513 |
| 22 | 76 | Conor Daly | Juncos Hollinger Racing | 1:00.5856 |
| 23 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | McLaren | 1:00.3671 |
| 24 | 21 | Christian Rasmussen | Ed Carpenter Racing | 1:00.6207 |
| 25 | 51 | Jacob Abel | Dale Coyne Racing | 1:00.8076 |
| 26 | 77 | Sting Ray Robb | Juncos Hollinger Racing | 1:00.7986 |
| 27 | 90 | Callum Ilott | Prema Racing | 1:00.8349 |
