Reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou headed a 15-car IndyCar test in Sebring though less than a second covered the entire field.
Palou sported a new livery on his Ganassi machine for the upcoming season which starts at St Petersburg next week. He lapped the Florida road circuit in a best time of 52.0883 seconds.“Nowadays we don’t get as many as test days as we would like,” said Palou, who covered 70 laps. “We would always want to have a lot of test days, honestly it’s super-important when we are only one week and a half out of St Pete.
“We want to go through a lot of the engineering list that we’ve been thinking about all off-season. We won’t have enough time, but it’s a way to get the rust off the drivers, all the crew, all the team together and try and get some ideas for St Pete.”
Christian Lundgaard was second fastest for RLL, less than two-hundredths of a second off the twice-champion. Palou’s 2023 title rival Josef Newgarden was third for Penske, also less than a tenth of a second off Palou.
Drivers have a lighter IndyCar chassis for the first races of this year as the Dallara DW12 has been through a weight reduction programme ahead of the integration of hybrid power units later this year.
“I don’t think the cars are going to be crazy-different but they’re slightly lighter, lap times will probably reflect that just marginally,” said Newgarden. “Don’t expect a huge jump, but there’s going to be a little bit of performance there.
“I think for everybody, we’re preparing for the season of two halves. You’re going to start the year in one form and then it’s about how do we adapt to the hybrid change? I think that’s front of mind for everybody.
“We’ve got to be strong in the beginning of the season and we’ve got to be strong through the adaptation with the hybrid system, and that’s the challenge in motorsports. You’re always getting thrown obstacles and that’s going to be the big one this year.”
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IndyCar Sebring test day one in pictures
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ryanoceros (@ryanoceros)
27th February 2024, 5:01
How much lighter are the new cars? The aeroscreen seemed far too heavy and raised the center of gravity significantly.
Yellow Baron
27th February 2024, 10:11
Maybe I’m not aware, but I think it’s just testing for the cars without the hybrid package as theyll be racing both with and without this year.
Asd
27th February 2024, 10:13
They’ve made several parts of the car lighter, especially the aero-screen, to offset the additional weight of the hybrid system. They were supposed to shed around 10-12kg if I remember correctly.
Yellow Baron
27th February 2024, 21:06
Wow that’s great, well done to them.
UNeedAFinn2Win (@uneedafinn2win)
27th February 2024, 12:04
The Aeroscreen partner Pankl estimated a reduction 1,5kg and the bellhousing and gearbox moving to lighter metals are losing 10-ish kg
so 12kg from 740 = 1,8 %
but when they put the mgu and capacitors in the bellhousing, they are adding back another 70 kg
Don
27th February 2024, 14:34
A new, lighter screen is part of the weight reduction.
Gabriel (@gabf1)
27th February 2024, 5:06
Are testing times any more reliable than they are for F1?
MacLeod (@macleod)
27th February 2024, 8:05
Sandbagging isn’t only a F1 thing but in all motor sports …
Asd
27th February 2024, 8:56
What would an IndyCar team want to sandbag in testing, huh? It makes no sense what you’re saying.
Hans Herrmann (@twentyseven)
27th February 2024, 10:12
@Asd you think the only reason for sandbagging is to hide design developments?
Asd
27th February 2024, 10:14
@twentyseven
Don’t ask, explain please.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
27th February 2024, 12:19
I think it is time to move away from the frequently (mis)used term ‘sandbagging’. It is very useful information to push on harder or worn tyres, some fuel load, a low engine setting and no DRS. This is a race simulation and when looking at laptimes, you will push but still be slow. Are you then sandbagging or just not pushing for outright fastest laps? You can still push without being fast.
S
27th February 2024, 8:39
The difference is, with Indycar, every team knows what the chassis can do – testing is mostly about making the driver comfortable and confident in it, and the team understanding how to make best use of it with setup.
F1 testing, on the other hand, is more focused on confirming the real-world correlation with their computer tools.
The enormous amount of data harvested tells them more than any driver ever can or will, and it does it instantly and honestly.
Lewisham Milton
27th February 2024, 13:08
They have an extra decimal place.
Yellow Baron
27th February 2024, 10:12
Maybe I’m not aware, but I think it’s just testing for the cars without the hybrid package as theyll be racing both with and without this year.