The New Zealander sat fourth under what would be the final Caution of Race 1 of the season, behind Herta.
With ‘green’ alternate tyres on his Team Penske Chevrolet, and the #26 Andretti Global entry struggling on cool primary tyres when the contest restarted, McLaughlin pounced as soon as they next arrived at the Turn 10 left-hander and ran third thereafter.
“I felt really strong into Turn 10 all day and I knew I had green tyres so I had to make them work,” he recounted.
“Colton made it hard, but that’s part of it, and just sort of threw the Dr Divebomb cap on and just threw it in there.
“It worked out good, [but] I was more pumped with my start. I think I made it four-wide and got through it, so that was a blast.
“Honestly, I had so much fun out there today. It was just proper racing, thinking on your feet with fuel strategy and where you put the car and how aggressive you were, and that’s what IndyCar is all about.
Secure your spot today.
“There’s no prediction, it’s just a wildcard, and I enjoy it.”
McLaughlin’s sense of fun was enhanced by the start to which he referred, when he was also deep under brakes at the first corner of the 100-lap race and gained three positions to run sixth in the opening stint.
He would go on to bank a podium despite qualifying ninth on the Streets of St Petersburg, which he declared almost as good as win.
The three-time Supercars champion took the chequered flag more than eight seconds behind race-winning Team Penske team-mate Josef Newgarden but just 0.5456s from runner-up Pato O’Ward.
However, McLaughlin could not go all-out in the closing laps due to the threat of his other Penske team-mate, Will Power, staring at his gearbox.
“[I’m] really stoked,” he said.
“For us to start ninth and move our way through to third, for us, it’s a win in some ways.
“I tried to get Pato there, but I had Will sort of breathing down my neck, and it was sort of a championship game in some ways thinking of the points in some ways.
“You just take what you can get. It’s so tight this year in IndyCar, so you just need to get what you can and get out of here.
“Really proud of the Dex Imaging Chevy, particularly Team Chevy. They’ve come with some goods this year and really worked with us over the off-season to be strong and to get four in the top five is huge, and yeah, pumped.”
McLaughlin is, of course, third in the championship at 19 points behind Newgarden, who scored a perfect four bonus points given he qualified on pole position and led more laps than anyone else.
Next up is the non-championship $1 Million Challenge at The Thermal Club on March 22-24 (local time).
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