Power tops pre-season IndyCar test at COTA

Will Power has topped the timesheets in the IndyCar Series official pre-season test at Circuit of the Americas.

The series veteran recorded a 1:46.7603 for Team Penske as one of two drivers to go under the 1:47s bracket.

“It always feels great for all my guys to see we have the pace,” said Power.

“We definitely went through as many items as we could. Obviously it’s very rushed there at the end with all the Red Flags and everything.

“We didn’t get everything done but got some of the big stuff we needed to know.”

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It’s the first time the full field has tested together with the new aeroscreen that will make it’s racing debut at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in mid-March.

Power said he definitely noticed a difference between the old and new iterations of the Dallara IR-18.

“There’s definitely a lot more weight up high and forward. You’ve got to work out what makes the car work well with that.

“It’s still early days. You’ll go through the whole season changing and switching and trying to work it out. I think we’re in a good window right now.”

Power’s time was only six tenths away from his pole position effort at the same circuit in 2019, which was set on the softer compound tyre. Teams were only able to use the hard compound tyre for the test.

Andretti Autosport driver Alexander Rossi was second quickest with a 1:46.9999, which put him 0.2396s adrift of the top spot.

As previously reported, Scott McLaughlin was third overall on a 1:47.2630 in the second of the Team Penske entries.

Fellow stablemate and 2019 champion Josef Newgarden was fourth overall ahead of IndyCar Series sophomore Colton Herta of Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport.

Simon Pagenaud’s sixth place effort ensured that all four Team Penske entries were at the pointy end of the field.

Series debutant Oliver Askew was seventh for the newly named Arrow McLaren SP outfit.

Five-time series champion Scott Dixon was the leading Chip Ganassi Racing entry. This year the team expands to a three-car operation with Felix Rosenqvist joined by fellow Swede Marcus Ericsson. They finished 11th and 19th respectively.

Another newcomer, Alex Palou, was ninth fastest for Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh. The livery he will run this year pays tribute to the iconic Team Lark pink and black McLaren F1.

Askew’s Arrow McLaren SP teammate Patricio O’Ward completed the top 10 , which was covered by less than a second.

The final stanza of the day was expected to bring quicker times, but Red Flag periods caused by Herta and O’Ward meant much of that running was interrupted.

NTT IndyCar Series, COTA Open Test

Pos	No	Name	FTime	Diff	Gap	FL	Laps	FSpeed	Engine	Team
1	12	Will Power	1:46.760	–.—-	–.—-	49	57	114.987	Chevy	Team Penske
2	27	Alexander Rossi	1:47.000	0.2396	0.2396	46	49	114.729	Honda	Andretti Autosport
3	2	Scott McLaughlin	1:47.263	0.5027	0.2631	58	62	114.448	Chevy	Team Penske
4	1	Josef Newgarden	1:47.275	0.5147	0.0120	50	53	114.435	Chevy	Team Penske
5	88	Colton Herta	1:47.367	0.6069	0.0922	38	43	114.337	Honda	Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport
6	22	Simon Pagenaud	1:47.557	0.7965	0.1896	62	66	114.135	Chevy	Team Penske
7	7	Oliver Askew	1:47.561	0.8008	0.0043	72	76	114.130	Chevy	Arrow McLaren SP
8	9	Scott Dixon	1:47.692	0.9318	0.1310	46	52	113.992	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
9	55	Alex Palou	1:47.707	0.9467	0.0149	57	60	113.976	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh
10	5	Pato O’Ward	1:47.715	0.9548	0.0081	66	67	113.967	Chevy	Arrow McLaren SP
11	10	Felix Rosenqvist	1:47.780	1.0193	0.0645	55	59	113.899	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
12	98	Marco Andretti	1:47.838	1.0782	0.0589	48	57	113.837	Honda	Andretti Herta with Marco & Curb-Agajanian
13	60	Jack Harvey	1:47.890	1.1299	0.0517	52	61	113.782	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing
14	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	1:47.891	1.1311	0.0012	47	51	113.781	Honda	Andretti Autosport
15	59	Max Chilton	1:47.963	1.2025	0.0714	63	72	113.706	Chevy	Carlin
16	15	Graham Rahal	1:47.987	1.2267	0.0242	46	51	113.680	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
17	26	Zach Veach	1:48.005	1.2451	0.0184	46	59	113.661	Honda	Andretti Autosport
18	21	Rinus VeeKay	1:48.220	1.4595	0.2144	75	82	113.436	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
19	8	Marcus Ericsson	1:48.306	1.5462	0.0867	49	65	113.345	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
20	18	Santino Ferrucci	1:48.364	1.6037	0.0575	44	52	113.285	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan
21	31	Sergio Sette Camara	1:48.471	1.7104	0.1067	26	28	113.173	Chevy	Carlin
22	30	Takuma Sato	1:48.690	1.9293	0.2189	36	40	112.945	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
23	4	Charlie Kimball	1:48.692	1.9322	0.0029	44	52	112.942	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
24	14	Sebastien Bourdais	1:48.836	2.0758	0.1436	34	35	112.793	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
25	20	Conor Daly	1:49.078	2.3178	0.2420	47	62	112.543	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
26	31	Felipe Nasr	1:50.768	4.0080	1.6902	47	49	110.826	Chevy	Carlin
27	14	Dalton Kellett	1:50.994	4.2340	0.2260	17	20	110.600	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises