By Kirby Arnold, Special Contributor
AVONDALE, AZ – Speeds climbed on the final day of the NTT IndyCar Series’ two-day Unser Open Test at Phoenix Raceway, with Alexander Rossi leading the 25-car field in both sessions Wednesday.
Rossi’s fast lap of 174.444 mph on the one-mile oval led the morning session before he backed it up with a lap of 174.542 in the afternoon in his No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet. Teammate Christian Rasmussen was fourth-fastest Wednesday at 173.924.
“We have a good baseline and it feels like we are on top of it,” Rossi said.
Finding a baseline for the setups was the main objective of the two days of running, when teams logged 4,853 laps in preparation for IndyCar’s return to Phoenix for the Good Ranchers 250 on March 7. It will be the series’ first race on the oval since 2018.
Josef Newgarden was second fastest Wednesday with a morning run of 174.362 in his Team Penske Chevrolet, with defending series champion Alex Palou third at 174.220 in his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Ex-Formula 1 driver Mick Schumacher was the fastest rookie this week at 171.096 in his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda, putting him 18th overall. He made a 7-mph improvement Wednesday over his speed on Day 1.
The only incident Wednesday happened in the afternoon session when Markus Ericsson spun and hit the Turn 4 wall. He wasn’t hurt.
Drivers turned 758 laps Wednesday in cool weather that included a 90-minute delay in the afternoon because of rain. The spread from Rossi’s quick time to 25th-fastest Newgarden in the afternoon was only about one second.
With teams working on various programs to find a handling balance on a track with distinctively different turns at both ends, plus a dogleg just past the start-finish line, it’s too soon to put much emphasis on who was fast and who wasn’t this week.
Felix Rosenqvist, seventh fastest Wednesday afternoon at 171.648 in his Meyer Shank Racing Honda, believes the whole field will be close come race weekend.
“It’s pretty tight,” Rosenqvist said. “I think when it matters, it’s probably going to be the whole field (separated by) maybe three, four tenths. If you can find one tenth, that’s going to be huge around here.”
Rosenqvist believes tire degradation could be a factor during long runs in the race.
“There is definitely deg,” he said. “I think in this condition, it’s probably like a second, second and a half. But I think it’s going to increase when you do laps consecutively instead of just going in and out all the time and cooling down the tires (as many teams did during the test). I wouldn’t be surprised if we had like a two-second delta from new tires to old tires.”
https://twitter.com/IndyCar/status/2024283209564049646
fusm5r
b4pjbv