Familiar faces in new places posted blazing times in IndyCar testing at Sebring International Raceway, the last tuneup for the March 10 season opener at St. Petersburg, Florida.
Marcus Ericsson, who is joining Andretti Global’s No. 28 Dallara-Honda this year after four seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing, turned the best lap Tuesday (51.9512 seconds) on the Florida track’s 1.67-mile layout. Road course ace Will Power of Team Penske was second (52.0076 seconds) in the No. 12 Dallara Chevrolet.
Ericsson is trying to extend a streak of three consecutive winning seasons after opening 2023 with a victory at St. Pete.
TEST RESULTS: Combined l Monday a.m. l Monday p.m. l Tuesday a.m. l Tuesday p.m.
“Today is very important, especially when you’re in a new team,” the 2022 Indy 500 winner said. “It’s been a lot of learning processes, learning the people, learning the car. Everything is new, obviously. We don’t get a lot of tests these days. So, we need to maximize that.
“We just had a really good day. So, that’s positive, and we’re feeling excited about going to St. Pete.”
Rounding out the top five on the second day were Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward (52.0104), Felix Rosenqvist (52.0305) and Graham Rahal (52.0598).
Rosenqvist will be making his debut in the No. 60 Dallara-Honda of Meyer Shank Racing after three seasons with Arrow McLaren – one of many fresh looks among the 27 drivers who turned 2,115 laps over two days at Sebring.
Colin Braun, a three-time IMSA champion who won last year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona with Meyer Shank Racing, made his IndyCar testing debut in the No. 51 Dallara-Honda of Dale Coyne Racing. Braun made 98 laps Tuesday and was just under a second off Ericsson’s pace. He was slightly ahead of IndyCar veteran Jack Harvey in the other DCR car.
“My first day (of IndyCar), certainly a blast jumping in the deep end,” Braun said. “A lot to learn, but it was great having Jack Harvey here helping out, and these guys did a really good job of walking me down the path and letting me learn step by step. It was fun. Made progress all day. It felt like it went pretty smooth on my end. Still a lot to learn, but it’s a great group of guys to learn from and work with. So, a big thank you to Honda and Dale Coyne for giving me a chance here. A lot of fun.”
Dale Coyne Racing has yet to announce its drivers for 2024, so Braun and Harvey presumably were auditioning to race for the team this season.
Defending series champion Alex Palou was fastest in Monday’s two sessions with a lap of 52.0883 seconds in the No. 10 Dallara-Honda.
“Nowadays, we don’t get as many tests as we would like,” said Palou, who has won two of the past three IndyCar titles. “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.”
The rest of the top five Monday were Christian Lundgaard (52.1065), Josef Newgarden (52.1298), Colton Herta (52.1909) and Alexander Rossi (52.2521).