ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- No stalls, bumps or bruises. Positive results on the first day of practice for the Firestone Indy Lights season-opening St. Petersburg 100 eased the minds of three graduates of the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires.

"So far, it's been great," said Gabby Chaves, 19, a native of Colombia who lives in Weston, Fla. "I I owe that to the team, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, because they have such a great crew, such great personnel. And they really are making this transition as easy as possible for me. I really owe it to them for the results we have achieved so far."

Chaves topped the time chart in the No. 7 Schmidt Peterson with Curb-Agajanian car through a pair of 45-minute practice sessions on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit with a lap of 1 minute, 6.8431 seconds (96.943 mph). A 45-minute qualifying round is scheduled for 9:25 a.m. (ET) March 23 for the 45-lap race at 3:40 p.m. the same day.

Click it: Combined practice results

"This morning we were pretty quick most of the session but made a change that didn't really work out for us," Chaves added. "So we made a few changes over lunch and we are really happy with the way the car is now.  I love this track. I was here last year, it's a great venue. The fans are great, it's a great atmosphere."

Teammates Jack Hawksworth, the 2012 Star Mazda champion, and Sage Karam had similar experiences on the first day of the event. Driving the No. 77 car, Hawksworth was second quick at 1:06.9466 (96.794 mph). Karam, who placed third in the Star Mazda championship race in 2012, was third quick (1:07.1713) in the No. 8 car.

"I think the first session was good, we got the learn the track and that went well, and then the second session again was good," Hawksworth said. "It was a bit busy, a lot to look over tonight and think about, but we’re definitely in the ballpark."