Written by Archie O'Reilly
Reigning NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou was the pace-setter on the first day of a two-day test on the 1.67 mile Sebring International Raceway short course.
Now sporting DHL colours on his No.10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, the Spaniard posted a fastest time of 52.0883 seconds - 0.0182s ahead of second-place Christian Lundgaard in his No.45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL) Honda.
"Nowadays, we don't get as many tests as we would like," Palou said. "We would always want to have a lot of test days, but 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 offseason. We won't have enough time. But it's a way to get the rest of the drivers, just all the crew, all the team together and try and get some ideas in person.”
One week on from a four car, 12 driver hybrid test at Sebring, there were a total of 15 drivers partaking in the opening day of the full-field pre-season test, with those not running on the first day set to get out on track on day two.
The day was split into two sessions, with Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood in first-place prior to the lunch break. He was followed in the morning standings by Rinus VeeKay, Palou, Pato O'Ward, Alexander Rossi, Scott Dixon, Colton Herta, Scott McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden, Sting Ray Robb, Lundgaard, Agustin Canapino, Pietro Fittipaldi and Tom Blomqvist.
"This is a big warmup, the first time our car has been on track since Laguna [last September]," Kirkwood said. "Just working through all the gremlins and getting everyone up to speed. That's what this test is about, getting the rust off and getting ready for St. Pete so we don't have any of these gremlins and can roll out in practice at St. Pete and just go fast."
Ganassi, Andretti, Team Penske and Arrow McLaren have all been involved in a rigorous off-season hybrid testing programme. But with the introduction of the hybrid power unit delayed to beyond the Indianapolis 500 in May, this Sebring test gives all teams the opportunity to test the adapted car with a lighter gearbox, aeroscreen and bellhousing - intended to facilitate the heavier hybrid unit.
With limited tyres allocated for teams, the most laps completed in the opening session was a total of 29 from Penske's McLaughlin. Dale Coyne Racing, who are yet to announce their drivers for 2024, opted for chosen test driver Jack Harvey to sit out of the morning to save tyres for the afternoon session.
A combined total of 1047 laps were completed across the 15 drivers by the end of the day's running, with 741 of those coming in a considerably more productive afternoon session. McLaren's Rossi completed the most laps with 89, followed by a total of 85 for Kirkwood.
Each driver saw a marked improvement on their best morning time upon returning from the lunchtime hiatus, albeit the morning's busiest driver, McLaughlin, only ran 19 more laps after the break due to a "little issue", meaning he completed a field-low 48 laps across both sessions.
In the overall results, behind Palou (52.0883s) and Lundgaard (52.1065s), who ran the second-lowest laps with 53, was Penske's Newgarden with a fastest time of 52.1298s across 75 laps. Herta (52.1909s) notched 69 laps for Andretti and was fourth, followed by former teammate and the day's most productive driver, Rossi (52.2521s).
O'Ward, who will return in his No.5 car on day two after running the No.6 on Monday in David Malukas' absence, remained in tandem with McLaren teammate Rossi in the standings through the day. The Mexican driver ended the morning one place and 0.0328s ahead of Rossi, rounding out the day one position and 0.0020s behind his teammate after 66 laps.
Dixon (52.2670s) was seventh for Ganassi after 76 laps, followed by the morning's fastest driver, Kirkwood (52.3341). Despite running less than 50 laps, McLaughlin was ninth with a 52.5433s fastest lap, followed by Ed Carpenter Racing's VeeKay (52.5562), who ran 76 laps across the day.
New RLL acquisition, Fittipaldi, was one of 11 drivers to finish the day within 0.5008s of Palou after his 65 laps. Slightly further back was Meyer Shank Racing rookie, Blomqvist, on a 52.7432s after 73 laps. Canapino (52.7634) ran 61 laps and was close behind Blomqvist.
Robb (52.8353) ran a valuable 78 laps for new team AJ Foyt Racing, dropping to 14th after, for what it is worth in a test session where timings are often less relevant than the teams' individual programmes, finishing 10th in the morning. Harvey (53.0766) ran 63 afternoon laps, rounding out the field and ensuring the entire field were split by less than one second.
Testing resumes on Tuesday 27th February, with a headline feature being 35-year-old sportscar veteran Colin Braun, who has been open about his pursuit of IndyCar opportunities, for Coyne.