Alexandar Rossi became the first IndyCar driver to test the new IR28 chassis at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Ed Carpenter Racing driver was chosen as the Chevrolet driver to take part in the first test of the new car along with Chip Ganassi's Alex Palou for Honda.
Rossi believes that the updated car shows promise after a weather-shortened, limited run around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's Road Course. "Man, it's pretty cool," Rossi told IndyCar's in-house media. "It's a very big honor to kinda be the first guy to experience it, and to do it at IMS is the cherry on top. It's been a fun day and a half so far, and I look forward to seeing what else we can learn."
View Price on AmazonThe differences between the IR18 and IR28 can be felt before the car comes up to speed, with a more thought-out cockpit that offers more space and better ergonomics for the driver. "The car feels, well, first of all, before you even drive it, when you sit in it. It feels substantially different; there's quite a bit more room in the cockpit," Rossi said. "The cockpit's ergonomics and design is substantially better. You feel, leaving pit lane right away, all of the integrated cooling that comes into the cockpit, which is great."
Rossi reports the ride as remarkably smooth, with minimal vibrations at speed. "I think it's a car where you don't feel as many vibrations, so you can tell the build quality is quite high," Rossi said. "From pure balance and performance, right now, it's still hard to say because it's super early days right now. We're going through certain parameters and making sure it's functioning as normal."
IndyCar's Vice President of Competition and Race Engineering, Mike O'Gara, says that one problem in the car's plumbing system is already being flushed out, and these tests are helping the development team find the areas that will need attention as development continues. "So far, it's doing everything it's supposed to," O'Gara said. "We've already found a couple of things, one thing on the plumbing system that didn't stop the car from running, obviously. But something that needs a little attention."
Source: roadandtrack.com
