The Swede led opening lap, which began underneath warning attributable to a race management problem, however shortly misplaced out to fellow entrance row starter Will Power as soon as the inexperienced flag got here out on lap two of 85.
It proved to mark the start of a downward slide, as Rosenqvist shortly fell to fourth by lap 5. He had dropped two extra locations throughout the subsequent three laps and by no means managed to get better the misplaced monitor place on his solution to ending ninth.
“The opening section is the place we primarily misplaced the race,” Rosenqvist mentioned.
“We had some points with the brakes: they had been working actually sizzling, so I used to be actually off on my bias and needed to chase it.
“We actually lacked braking efficiency, which meant I saved getting handed in Flip 1, inside and outdoors. With out braking confidence, you possibly can’t shield, and you’ll’t go ahead.
“However the staff did effectively regardless of that, we saved our heads cool – despite the fact that it sucked to go plummeting down the sphere.”
With two entrance row begins and two high 10 outcomes from the opening two points-paying races of 2024, having completed seventh in St. Petersburg earlier than the disqualification of Team Penske drivers Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin for push-to-pass violations elevated him two positions, Rosenqvist sits sixth within the standings simply 24 factors behind chief Scott Dixon.
Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing Honda
Photograph by: Josh Tons / Motorsport Images
“We’re trying on the huge image and a high 10 end result for the staff continues to be actually nice for us,” mentioned Rosenqivst, who additionally completed third within the non-points occasion at The Thermal Membership final month.
“In fact, we’d have favored to translate the pole right into a win, however that is good momentum for everybody.”
Now, the eye shifts to the upcoming weekend’s spherical at Barber Motorsports Park, a monitor that Rosenqvist has two high 10 leads to 4 begins.
“We examined there a few weeks in the past, which is useful,” Rosenqvist mentioned.
“It’s good to have that underneath your belt going into the race weekend the place many of the groups haven’t.
“I nonetheless suppose it’s a monitor that we identified that we wish to work on. I really feel fairly good about it, I’m not 100% that our bundle shall be as robust because it was right here, however I feel we’ve an excellent baseline to work with.
“First street course of the season and I’m excited to see how the automotive goes to really feel.”
Watch: Spherical 3 – Lengthy Seaside: 6 Minute Highlights