Felix Rosenqvist led a solid day for Meyer Shank Racing by finishing fifth in Sunday’s (March 23) Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix at The Thermal Club, the second race of the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season.
🏁 Checkered Flag 🏁
— Meyer Shank Racing (@MeyerShankRac) March 23, 2025
A strong showing in the heat! 🔥 Felix brings it home in P5 with a fierce drive, while Marcus battles through a strategic race to finish P7. Solid points on the board and momentum building💪@FRosenqvist // @MarcusArmstrng pic.twitter.com/QjtIAMG6rA
The Swede started ninth on Firestone’s black sidewall, primary compound tires but fell to 13th place in the first few laps of the race to drivers who started on the red sidewall alternate compound tires. Rosenqvist pitted on lap 10 to run the remaining laps of the 65-lap race around the 3.067-mile road course on the softer alternate tires. The Swede moved around Rinus VeeKay on lap 22 to move up to eighth place and was up to sixth after the second round of pit stops concluded on lap 35.
Rosenqvist was set to finish sixth but moved by Kyle Kirkwood on lap 62 to score his first top-five finish of the 2025 season in the No. 60 Honda.
FRO says, 'I'll take that.'
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) March 23, 2025
An overtake with a few laps remaining for P5.
📺: #ThermalGP on FOX pic.twitter.com/5s551PrLT0
“I think our first stint definitely set us back,” Rosenqvist told Frontstretch. “We weren’t good on blacks at all, that’s been the case all weekend. Marcus [Armstrong] has been really good on blacks and he was worse on reds and we were really good on reds and it ended up being a red race. I think that played in our advantage and we recovered well to P5.
“Without the first stint, who knows what we could’ve done? I felt a bit quicker than the Andrettis, I at least got Kyle in the end. Couldn’t really get Colton [Herta] but it was close. Really happy with a top five to be honest, good recovery. Really tricky track, the tire deg is really high, it’s hot, you have to be really clever when you’re driving. It’s kind of like playing chess a bit but I think we’ve done a really good job, good pit stops and solid points here.”
For teammate Armstrong, the No. 66 Honda started and finished seventh. After starting on the primary compound tires like his teammate, Armstrong ran two more laps in his opening stint before pitting for a used set of alternate tires. Armstrong remained in the lower part of the top 10 for much of the day but moved from ninth to eighth on lap 60 when he got around Alexander Rossi. Three laps later, the New Zealand native passed Kyle Kirkwood who was struggling with tire wear on his final stint to gain seventh place, where he would ultimately finish.
“It was a long race, so I really struggled on used alternates,” Armstrong said in a team release. “I wasn’t happy with the balance of the car, but we slowly made adjustments through the race and then put some new reds on at the end and we were pretty rapid. It’s a shame that the used tire runs were so tricky, but I’m glad that we made up some ground at the end and finished where we started.”
That was a scorcher! 🔥
— Meyer Shank Racing (@MeyerShankRac) March 23, 2025
Felix and Marcus battled through the heat at The Thermal Club and executed a smart race to secure strong points for the team – Solid team effort!
Read all about it here: https://t.co/AsXcGS4JYV@FRosenqvist // @MarcusArmstrng pic.twitter.com/IoAflmaK3a
This effort by Rosenqvist and Armstrong also earns Meyer Shank’s first double top-10 finish since the 2022 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, where Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud finished eighth and 10th, respectively.
Christopher DeHarde has covered IndyCar racing and the Road to Indy for various outlets since 2014. In addition to open wheel racing, DeHarde has also covered IMSA and various short track racing events around Indiana. Originally from New Orleans, DeHarde moved to the Indianapolis area in 2017 to further pursue a career as a motorsports writer.