Rain dampens SPM’s Sonoma test

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports will look for another day to test its Honda-powered IndyCars after steady rain in the Bay Area kept drivers James Hinchcliffe and Mikhail Aleshin parked at Sonoma Raceway.

Other than working with a film crew as part of a pre-arranged commercial shoot, the day was a wash for the team. Ed Carpenter Racing, which had planned to join SPM at Sonoma, rescheduled its appearance for Feb. 14 in light of the anticipated showers.

Although the rainfall decreased by late morning – enough for some dry lines to appear – the increased liklihood of more rain made it easy to scrub the day in favor of saving it for future use.

SPM and the rest of the Verizon IndyCar Series will now focus on the first open test of the year set for Friday and Saturday at the one-mile Phoenix International Raceway oval. Along with Hinchcliffe and Aleshin, the full complement of drivers from Andretti Autosport, A.J. Foyt Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing, Dale Coyne Racing, ECR, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Team Penske will be present.

Phoenix marks the one and only open test prior to the start of the 2017 championship the weekend of March 10-12 at St. Petersburg.