Ericsson shines under pressure in St. Petersburg

It’s an important year for Marcus Ericsson at Andretti Global and, in a greater sense, for the Swede to drive up his stock value.

In the final year of his contract, Ericsson is on a mission to prove his value and pace are unquestioned, and after qualifying second in the No. 28 Honda — best within the team by a wide margin — the 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner has gotten his season off to a strong start.

“I performed at my maximum today, and I was really proud of that,” Ericsson said. “I think the crew did as well.”

Team Penske polesitter Scott McLaughlin edged out Ericsson by just 0.0195s.

“They did a tremendous job,” he said of the No. 28 team and his new engineer, Andretti veteran Ron Barhorst. “It’s always frustrating to miss out [on pole] by that much, but it’s a huge result to start on the front row after last year, which was a bit of a disaster, really. To bounce back like this in the first weekend is really great, and I’m really proud. I’ve worked really hard for this.”