Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden in the No.2 Shell Chevrolet was the pacesetter on the opening day of testing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday.
The Tennessee native set a speed of 227.687MPHand speaking following the action he said:
Really great day. “I wish it was Race Day today. But you can’t choose those. You have to show up on that day and be very good. I told the team that if it was Race Day, don’t touch it because it was very good. Sometimes you show up and the car is great. and sometimes you have to work on it. Today was one of those really good days.
“We got through our list, as well, and we learned a lot, which is always positive. Sometimes you can go around in circles at this place, but today as a team I felt like we were very efficient with our time. We split everything up and divided and conquered. Really, really happy for Team Penske today, and I feel good for next month with the Shell car.”
Ed Carpenter Racing’s Conor Daly in the No.20 BitNile Chevrolet was second with a speed of 227.466s.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon in the No.9 PNC Bank Honda was he fastest Honda driver in third with a speed of 226.788MPH.
Long Beach race winner Kyle Kirkwood was fourth just ahead of Takuma Sato and Stefan Wilson.
Colton Herta in the No.26 Gainbridge Honda was seventh just ahead of Alex Palou and Pato O’Ward while Scott McLaughlin rounded out the top ten with a speed of 225.493MPH.
Marco Andretti was 11th just ahead of David Malukas and Will Power.
Ryan Hunter-Reay was 14th for Dreyer and Reinbold Racing just ahead of Arrow McLaren’s Tony Kanaan.
Ed Carpenter was 16th just ahead of Simon Pagenaud and defending Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson in the No.8 Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Helio Castroneves was 19th just ahead of Felix Rosenqvist who rounded out the top 20.
Romain Grosjean was 21st just ahead of Alexander Rossi and Graham Rahal.
Rinus VeeKay was 24th just ahead of AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci in the No.14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet.
Christian Lundgaard was 26th just ahead of Agustin Canapino and Jack Harvey while Takuma Sato set a 222.012MPH.
Sting Ray Robb was 30th just ahead of Devlin DeFrancesco and Callum Ilott.
Katherine Legge in the No.44 Hendrickson Honda was 33rd while Benjamin Pedersen was 34th.
Testing continues today.
CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
NTT INDYCAR SERIES OPEN TEST
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
TESTING DAY ONE RECAP
APRIL 20, 2023
INDIANAPOLIS (April 20, 2023) – It’s almost May! For the first time in 2023, the sights and sounds of the NTT INDYCAR Series came to life at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A total of 16 Chevrolet-powered cars started the journey to compete in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing-the Indianapolis 500 on May 28, 2023.
After eight and one-half hours (minus a brief break for a few rain drops) of testing with many drivers logging over 100 laps around the 2.5-mile oval, Josef Newgarden took his No. 2 Shell V-Power Team Penske Chevrolet to the top of the charts with a speed of 227.686 MPH.
A total of five of the 16 Team Chevy drivers posted speeds in the top-10 of the final order.
Testing is scheduled to resume Friday, April 21 at 10:00 a.m. ET.
TEAM CHEVY OPEN TEST, DAY 1 RESULTS:
1. Josef Newgarden
2. Conor Daly
6. Stefan Wilson
9. Pato O’Ward
10. Scott McLaughlin
13. Will Power
14. Ryan Hunter-Rey
15. Tony Kanaan
16. Ed Carpenter
20. Felix Rosenqvist
22. Alexander Rossi
24. Rinus VeeKay
25. Santino Ferrucci
27. Agustin Canapino
32. Benjamin Pedersen
33. Callum Ilott
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES):
Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet:
“Great day. Really great day. You know, I wish it was like race day today. But you don’t get to choose those. You know, you got to show up on that day and be really good. But I told the team, I said if this was race, they don’t touch it. It’s very good. And sometimes you have that around your you know, you show up and sometimes the cars just great and sometimes you got to work on it. Today it was one of those really good days we got through a list as well. We learned a lot, which is always positive. You know, sometimes you can go in circles around here and sometimes you’re inefficient. Today, I felt like as a team we were very efficient with our time. We split everything up, divided and conquered. So really, really happy for Team Penske today and feel good for next month for the big race.”
Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet:
“I think we just ended with a really, really good car. Everything that we’ve tested, we got a positive or a negative out of it. That’s always good to compile it all together and hopefully make a pretty good race car. Towards the end, running in traffic I felt good. I’m still learning how to get a tow in an Indy car so I’ll work on that, but apart from that, I think we’ve got a pretty speedy race car.”
Will Power, No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet:
“We’ve gone through items that we’ve developed in the offseason, and new aero bits that INDYCAR has implemented, so just trying to find out what works and what doesn’t. It was a good day.”
Conor Daly, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:
“I thought today was really good. We were fast really all day, but I felt really racey. We happened to sneak a lap in there, but I really, really enjoyed today. We stayed in the car for three and a half hours, so we did a lot of work which is great. That’s what testing is for, and we were quick. I feel really good about our day today.”
Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 23 Dreyer & Reinold Racing Chevrolet:
“It was great! You know, that first run out, but you know the first proper run felt like a kid going down the hill on a bike, going down a ramp, that’s probably like that feeling of just pure excitement. It was great. I absolutely couldn’t wait to do it. But now it’s great like Stefan (Wilson) said – the team’s done a great job preparing these cars, and really happy to be joining Team Chevy again. We have a lot of great history together not only in the sports car side of GM with Cadillac and everything but winning a championship together back in 2012. So I have a lot of good friends there and look forward to working with them. It’s something that I’m definitely going to take the time the most have been working with the team. It’s been excellent today. We just we were going through some pretty big ticket stuff you know, big ticket items with the wind and everything and we with the starting that refresher do very strange just feel in 210 to 215 was not kind of like that morning. I wanted to get through that as fast as possible. It was like eating your vegetables as a kid. Yeah, it’s not fun, but got through it. After that, yeah, had a blast. And the worst vegetables for you growing up would be one kid when I was a kid, it was definitely broccoli. Like that was the worst. You know, for my kids to now I love messing with them. Always eat your vegetables also.”
Stefan Wilson, No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet:
“Really good day for us, you know, to get through your refresher. And, I think we did 140 laps today. So, I did a lot more than I thought we’re going to get done today with how we expected it to be and how many it got. So yeah, really, really positive stuff. I think it’s nice to be in a stronger positive window. You know, the cars in a decent window right now, I think we need to refine it. But you know, we’re not from the kitchen sink at it. So that’s, that’s a good place to be where you check in boxes going through the program. Maybe we’ll see what happens tomorrow. And maybe it gets some time. Maybe not. But everything done. You want it to be that? Yeah, absolutely. I think so. You know, we actually didn’t expect any running tomorrow. So we tried to just cram it all in today. You know, and if tomorrow happens, then that’s a bonus, you know. So, you know, really appreciate all the work that Dreyer & Reinbold have done. All the crew just done an amazing job to prepare for better cars and having done 140 laps today after not running a lap since then last year, so hats off to them. It was nice to be back after a year as well. Didn’t sleep well, last night, you know, thinking about what was ahead of me today. You know, it’s kind of like riding a bike. You get back in and everything starts to make sense again. So yeah, and a Chevrolet as well. They’ve done a really good job with the package coming into the month. So excited to be with this whole program.”
Ed Carpenter, No. 33 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:
“I would say it was a good start to the month of May in April. I thought we had a really productive day. Time sheets are what they are, but we had a pretty ambitious list to be really aggressive and get through today and try to get through tomorrow’s work too not knowing what the weather will be. For my sake, the No. 33 BITNILE.COM Chevy, I was really happy with. Very confident. Learned some good things, learned some bad things which is always a positive too. I’m excited to hear what Rinus (VeeKay) and Conor (Daly) experienced today. Feeling pretty optimistic coming back.”
Tony Kanaan, No. 66 Arrow McLaren Racing Chevrolet:
“It was a good day. First day, trying to get through the motions. It’s a new car, new build, so we didn’t really worry about anything, it was just trying to get myself, the mechanics, and everything rolling. It was an awesome day. We ran as many laps as we wanted to run. There were no issues, so a good day.”