The NTT INDYCAR SERIES newest team, PREMA Racing, had two very positive days of pre-season testing at Sebring International Raceway on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.
On day one, the team focused on gaining mileage and chemistry with the cars. Ilott rounded out the top 5 in group two, which ran in the afternoon, and was in the top 10 overall. Shwartzman carried out a considerable amount of work. He started running early with the goal of maximizing track time and his lap total was among the highest.
On day two, work continued on set up refinement, race stint simulations and long runs. Ilott, who hit the track in the morning, secured another top-5 position in his group, while Shwartzman ended up in a very positive P6 with 74 laps on the board.
Speaking following the action, Robert Schwartzman commented saying:
“Overall, the two days were very positive. On day one we focused on car changes and collecting data rather than performance runs, and Callum later on continued to improve the car. On day two we started with race sims and it was a good experience for me to get a better feel of the car on the long runs. The conditions were much different in the afternoon, much windier, but even in those conditions the car felt pretty decent. There are a few things to fix and improve but we are not far off as a starting point. Let’s see what’s gonna be in St. Pete, but we completed quite a lot of laps which was positive in terms of data for the engineers. We’ll now go back to work and find a few more things, then straight to the race.”
Callum Ilott commented on his two days of testing saying:
“I’m really happy, and I think that the team has done a great job to get everything set up and perform as well as we have done so far. Across the two days, we improved the car a lot. This is a street course-focused racetrack for us and we had to dial the car in for St. Pete. We came a long way from where we started, where we finished yesterday was very impressive, and today we took a bit of a swing at things. There were a lot of positives but also a couple of things we have to work on. Overall, the pace has been strong in both sessions. I feel we have been able to adapt to the conditions really well. We are getting stronger and stronger as a team in the areas we have worked on. It is still testing, and you have to take everything with a pin of salt, but I’ve been super happy with how we performed. Now we will regroup to focus on the opening round of the season.”
The next time PREMA Racing will be on track will be the opening practice of the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season on Friday 28 March at the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg, presented by RP Funding.