Palou completes 25 more laps in IR28 testing

With the first two days of Dallara IR28 testing best by rain at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course, the IndyCar Series made a brief return to complete 25 laps of dry running Tuesday evening with Alex Palou.

The new 2028 car turned 36 laps on Saturday with Alexander Rossi, 35 more on Sunday with Palou, and the championship leader stepping in for 25 more between 5:30-7pm ET as the series and chassis maker Dallara took the opportunity to shape the car’s setup for future road course testing in the dry.

“Yesterday was full dry, but obviously, it was still a green track because it was just us running,” Mike O’Gara, IndyCar’s VP of Competition, Race Engineering, told RACER. “We ran 25 laps, and since it was the first time in the dry, we had to stop and make a couple balance adjustments with springs and such, but got him pretty happy and dialed in ride heights after running in the rain.”

The IR28 carries a lower-power, first-generation 2.4-liter twin-turbo V6 built by Ilmor for its early test runs, and also carries ballast in the bellhousing to replicate the weight of the hybrid system, which is being completed by its vendors. Minus the 2028-level engine power, and without hybrid boost, the IR28 mirrored Palou’s best lap from May’s Indianapolis Grand Prix on the same Firestone primary tires he used during the event.

“We did some stuff for Custom AXIS on damper adjustments that he liked, and in the end, I think his quick lap was a 70.5, which was not too shabby,” O’Gara added. “I would say that was not even pushing too hard. Alex was trying to be a good test driver and drive the same way every time so we could see what the changes to the car were doing. He wasn't trying to push more or less than any other outing, so a 70.5, and I think his quick lap in Practice 1 for the Indy GP was a 70.2, and I think his quick race lap was a 72.1.”

The limited amount of time, coupled with the limited amount of laps, meant the IR28 will need to wait until its next road course outing to complete longer runs and explore more of its potential.

“We wanted to do a long run; that was on our list, but getting ride heights dialed in, making sure that the aero deltas, and things that Dallara expected are what we saw, was the priority,” O’Gara said. “Just making sure, even with the spring change, the car is doing what we expected to do with the spring change and things like that, was important. So I felt it was more important to get that work in than doing a long run. It's going to do a long run, and it'll be interesting to see where the balance goes, but right now, we just need to make sure it runs and responds to what we ask it to do. And so far, man, it's just doing everything we want.”