Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward set the fastest combined time on the opening day of INDYCAR pre-season testing at Sebring International Raceway on Monday.
O’Ward said:
Oh, man, it’s the best feeling in the world; it’s the best job in the world. “I was so excited to come back to Sebring and get into an INDYCAR SERIES car, getting to work with the engineers again. It definitely feels like home, and it’s a second family to me. So always excited to get rolling.”
In his first outing for the team, Marcus Armstrong was second with a 52.3675s and speaking following the action he said:
“In the end, we limited the running on the 60 car to save tires for Felix, but I feel really fresh. “Feel like I haven’t done anything. Feel like I could do it all again. So happy that I’m not tired after doing so many laps.”
Defending series champion Alex Palou in the No.10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was third overall just ahead of Conor Daly who was fourth for Juncos Hollinger Racing and speaking following the action he said:
“We were fast all day in our group. “So, that’s really encouraging. We made a lot of progress with a lot of changes that we wanted to get through. And that’s what this testing is for. It’s so important. To be fast and at the front, that’s our goal every day.
Christian Lundgaard was fifth for Arrow McLaren just ahead of Sting Ray Robb and Will Power and Marcus Armstrong who was in the No.60 Honda.
Colton Herta was 9th while PREMA Racing had a great day with Callum Ilott rounded out the top ten.
Kyle Kirkwood was 11th just ahead of Santino Ferrucci.
David Malukas was 14th just behind Jacob Abel.
Josef Newgarden was 15th just ahead of his teammate Scott McLaughlin and Louis Foster.
Christian Rasmussen was 18th just ahead of Marcus Ericsson and Graham Rahal while Devlin DeFrancesco was 21st.
Nolan Siegel was 22nd just ahead of Rinus VeeKay and Robert Shwartzman while Kyffin Simpson was 25th ahead of Alexander Rossi while Scott Dixon had an undiagnosed mechanical issue having completed just two laps.
Testing concludes on Tuesday.