O'Ward, Palou encouraged after productive IndyCar tire test at IMS

Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward came away from Tuesday’s test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with praise for the repaving done on the exit of Turn 2 and a strong opinion on which tire Firestone should use for next year’s Indianapolis 500.

“The track surface was good; no issues there whatsoever,” O’Ward told RACER after driving the No. 5 Chevy. “We tested the control tire, which is what we raced last season, and then we did three different tires. I had one favorite, and it was definitely way better in every single way, just more balanced throughout the stint, way less vibrations, and just a better tire overall, which is one of the ones that I did a long run with. And that was the last one that I ran all day.”

O’Ward was joined on Tuesday by reigning Indy 500 winner Alex Palou, who represented Honda in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing entry as half of the two-car tire testing ensemble.

“With the bump that was there on the exit of [Turn] 2, you really didn’t have much grip,” Palou said. “And you have a lot of steering angle, and then, even if it's a really small bump, it just unsettles the car a little bit and you lose confidence. So therefore, next lap, you just leave a bigger gap to the car in front. So with the paving and getting rid of the bump, I think this is going to allow us to run a little bit closer at the exit of Turn 2, which hopefully makes Turn 3 more exciting.”

Ed Carpenter Racing’s Alexander Rossi and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Takuma Sato were focused on brake and damper package testing for the series, which continues Wednesday.

“We just concentrated on the tire testing and were done before noon. I really liked the one compound the most, and throughout the stint, there wasn't such a fluctuation of balance. The car just felt like it maintained the balance that it started with, which is really nice. And also the vibrations were way less,” O’Ward said during a quick stopover in Texas on the way to this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix, where he’ll take part in Friday’s Free Practice 1 session for McLaren.  

“That's been a huge issue with the added weight at the rear (with the hybrid system) and it just feels like the rear overpowers the balance. And with this tire, it felt like the front axle was able to breathe a little bit and the balance was much better. We didn’t get to do any group running to see what the deg was like following each other around, but it felt like the one tire was a great place to start for next year.”