The first day of IndyCar testing at Circuit of the Americas ended up being less than productive for the teams due to cold temperatures and intermittent rain throughout the day.
The temperatures led to the tyres not being able to be warmed up, and nobody was able to go out on track for more than a couple reconnaissance laps.
The afternoon session looked promising, but a final downpour just as the cars were getting on track led to the session being called off entirely.
To compensate for the lost time, IndyCar has extended tomorrow’s track time to eight and a half hours from the originally planned six.
Pato O’Ward, who was only able to get on track momentarily, linked the lack of running to cold brakes and tyres. “We did one lap to see if we could get any heat into the brakes. It was really tough.
“I feel like it obviously got a bit warmer than what it is when it’s just sitting there, but not quite enough to really push or to get any grip into the tyre. It was pretty hard.”
The weather is set clear by tomorrow afternoon with temperatures 15 °F warmer than today, so the teams will be hoping to be able to run through their test procedures on an accelerated schedule.