It’s been a long offseason for second-year NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver Felix Rosenqvist. Although it’s been punctuated by using the Honda Performance Development simulator and some recent offseason tests, nothing stokes the competitive fire like competition.

Rosenqvist returns to where his NTT INDYCAR SERIES career officially started at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

It’s just a little over one week away, and the Chip Ganassi Racing driver is already fanning at the flames.

“It will be great to be back,” Rosenqvist said. “The fire is strong.”

In last year’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Rosenqvist started third and quickly got the No. 10 NTT DATA Honda into the lead. The rookie was in front for 31 laps in his first-ever NTT INDYCAR SERIES race and was in contention for the victory before finishing fourth.

Not a bad start for the Swedish driver. But after that initial race, he experienced the trials and tribulations of competing against some of the top drivers in the world in a highly competitive series.

Rosenqvist started fifth and finished 23rd in his next race at Circuit of The Americas. A pair of 10th-place finishes at Barber Motorsports Park and the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach followed before two big races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Rosenqvist finished eighth in the INDYCAR Grand Prix and 28th in the Indianapolis 500. He bounced back with a fourth-place finish in the Saturday portion of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix but finished 16th the following day.

A 12th-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway put Rosenqvist in a position where he needed a reset to the season.

It came with a sixth-place finish at Road America. He backed that up the following race with a fifth-place finish at Toronto.

He ended the season strong, with second-place finishes at Mid-Ohio and Portland and a fifth place in the final race of the season at Laguna Seca.

“Once we passed the Month of May and Detroit and a couple of other tough places, I started getting some momentum again,” Rosenqvist said. “Things just didn’t really go my way before then. After that, I started getting really good momentum and something began to click. I began to understand how to make the tires work and last longer over a stint.

“At the end of the season, we were really at the level we need to be to fight for championships on the road courses. The oval is still a big gap to close there. If we can improve the cars a little bit, that will be a big help to giving me more confidence on my part. Hopefully, that will be an upward spiral. It’s a huge gap to close there.

“Otherwise, I feel so much different coming into a second season.”

Chip Ganassi Racing increased from two to three cars with the addition of fellow Swede Marcus Ericsson. Also, the team moved many of its talented engineers and crewmembers on the old Ford Mustang GT IMSA program over to the INDYCAR operation.

That has strengthened the support for all three cars including five-time NTT INDYCAR champion Scott Dixon, Rosenqvist and Ericsson.

“There is a good feeling on the team,” Rosenqvist said. “When you go to the shop, you can feel there is a good energy. We don’t feel like people are stressed in the same way. We have more people and more engineers and that will make us stronger.

“It’s not only good to have Marcus on the team but having the extra engineering will make us really strong.”

Chip Ganassi Racing has become “Team Sweden” in INDYCAR and Rosenqvist has seen interest increase for the series in his native land.

“Last year, a large percentage of downloads for the NTT INDYCAR Mobile App were from Sweden,” he said. “I think that is going to grow, especially with both of us on the same team. There has been a Marcus side and a Felix side, but hopefully now they can unite.

“Hopefully, they will support Ganassi instead of just one of us.”

The 17-race NTT INDYCAR SERIES season begins March 13-15 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.