Malukas tops five-car IndyCar test at Barber

Four NTT IndyCar Series teams and five drivers put Barber Motorsports Park to use on Monday during a private test where David Malukas and Nico Hulkenberg turned their first laps in an IndyCar, Ryan Hunter-Reay tested for a team he hopes to join and Kyle Kirkwood and Devlin DeFrancesco continued their IndyCar educations.

Malukas, the runner up to Kirkwood in the 2021 Indy Lights championship, topped the morning session at the rolling Alabama road course on debut with Dale Coyne Racing and backed it up in the afternoon, leading Hunter-Reay in the Ed Carpenter Racing entry Conor Dale drove last season.

Kirkwood led his Andretti Autosport teammate in the morning, but DeFrancesco turned the tables in the afternoon, and at Arrow McLaren SP, Formula 1 veteran Nico Hulkenberg wasn’t far from the others as he learned the car and track in a one-off run to get a feel for the Dallara DW12-Chevy.

All times unofficial: 

P1: David Malukas, No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda, 76.398s

P2: Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevy, 76.698s

P3: Devlin DeFrancesco, No. 29 Andretti Autosport Honda, 76.781s

P4: Kyle Kirkwood, No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda, 76.995s

P5: Nico Hulkenberg, No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevy, 77.454s