Alex Palou, Ganassi, IndyCar, 2023

IndyCar to finally debut much-delayed hybrids at Mid-Ohio round

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IndyCar’s long-awaited introduction of its hybrid power units will finally take place at the ninth round of this year’s championship at Mid-Ohio.

The series has repeatedly delayed the introduction of the system, which will allow drivers to deploy an extra 120 horsepower, taking the total available to over 800bhp.

The hybrid power units were originally due for introduction in 2022 alongside a new engine formula. However the latter was shelved and the arrival of the hybrids delayed until the start of this season. Last December IndyCar decided to delay the introduction of the hybrid technology again to an unspecified date in 2024, after the showpiece Indianapolis 500.

Now the championship has chosen the July round at Mid-Ohio, the ninth of 17, for the field’s switch to hybrid power.

“The IndyCar-specific hybrid power unit will bring a new and exciting element to the NTT IndyCar series with additional energy and overtake options,” said the series president Jay Frye. “We cannot wait to see the start of this new era at Mid-Ohio.”

The teams have covered more than 37,000 kilometres of testing with the hybrid units at seven different permanent venues. A further test involving the whole field will take place at the Milwaukee Mile oval on June 11th.

The hybrid system will use the clutch shaft to generate energy when the driver demands it. IndyCar will set different limits on how much of this energy can be stored based on the length and layout of each track.

Drivers will also gain the ability to restart their own engines using the hybrid systems. The series expects this will reduce the number of caution periods required as drivers whose engines stop after an incident will no longer require outside assistance to resume.

IndyCar’s decision means more than half of this year’s 17 points-paying races will be contested by hybrids. After Mid-Ohio the hybrids will appear in two races on the Iowa oval, the Toronto street circuit, Gateway oval, Portland road circuit, two races at the Milwaukee mile and the finale on the Nashville oval.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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11 comments on “IndyCar to finally debut much-delayed hybrids at Mid-Ohio round”

  1. When will they have new aero kits? The current ones are getting uninteresting. They could at least do a bigger facelift to spice things up.

    1. It needs more than just a facelift – a new chassis at least…

      1. Obviously, duh. But the point is, a facelift would be hellova refreshing!
        For me it feels kinda exhausting right now, it’s like watching the same season go on and on and on for years.

        1. I’m not sure much can be done with the current package to improve its looks, that’s it. So if we want a fresh new look a new chassis is required. With this one any further change can only make it worse.

          1. Everything can be done. The chassis was revamped in 2018, don’t you remember? Apart from the nose, it was changed completely.

  2. Hope this should be interesting…

  3. I love the idea of a mid-season rule change. A chance to upset the balance of power amongst the teams.
    It would be great to see in F1, especially if one team was dominating. If a team managed to dominate on both sides of the rule change then you truly have a team worthy of a championship.

    1. It’s this constant rule change that creates ultra dominant teams and it’s getting worse with every rule change that is being introduced. So NO, I totally disagree on this! After Liberty took over F1 has become a soap opera. Going further beyond to become a “spin the wheel” show to please of US audience is beyond bearable!!! I’m in my late 30’s and I am a fan since 1996. But even on those early years I wanted to watch old races and footage from the past. Learn about the history of the sport. Only then I thought that I had become a true fan of the sport! I absolutely love doing that even to this day. Every era of the sport has it’s great moments, but little by little it’s becoming a childish, kneejerk freak show that has put out the spark in me!
      Teams should be given time to study and understand the rules, especially if there is a massive overhaul, and rules should stay unchanged. This will level the field up sooner or later and produce good racing.
      Any artificial mid-season gimmick to cut the advantage of one team to favour another etc will spike conspiracy theories and F1 will become even more “politics” than it already is!

    2. What you supposedly want is to play games with the teams and the drivers, to randomize everything and be entertained by guessing what’s going to happen next. But would you ever want to work in such environment, or participate in such a championship? F1 shouldn’t be anyone’s sandbox, and what Indy did here made them look amateurish (but even they wish they were capable enough to could avoid it).
      Sure, it’s always interesting to pose all sorts of hypothetical questions about what would’ve happened if we… (enter whichever rule change you want), but in reality it would cheapen and destroy everything. Sometimes it’s just nice to wonder.
      What you simply call “domination” in a derogatory sense I call having someone who’s actually the best (team, driver, or both) winning races. I want the next winner (like Norris and McLaren last time) to be winning because they are the best, not because some crazy rules roulette decided it is their random turn to score some wins before we twist the wheel again. Who’d want to watch that, what’s the point?
      And what’s the point of seasons if they don’t have consistent major rules and specifications? There would be no need for separate F1 seasons, we could have a perpetual league and give trophies like “March F1 champion”, or quarterly awards or something.
      Is F1 really that bad and boring that everything must be changed, including its essence? I’m not asking you, perhaps I’m just being rhetorical. There are so many sports, even different motorsports, and the only one (beside MotoGP) i care about is F1. I’m more interesting preserving what makes F1 – F1, than needlessly experimenting just to see what’d have happened if we… this or that. Every sport needs to evolve, but I don’t think F1 needs to be shaken to its core.

  4. A HUGE bonus with this move is the ability to re-start the engine. This will eliminate lots of needless caution laps.

  5. This is really going to mix things up! It will be very interesting to see how teams respond.

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