The NTT IndyCar Series has completed another milestone with its new IR-28 Dallara chassis, running laps in the oval configuration for the first time.
Laps were completed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Wednesday and Thursday, with low downforce front and rear wings attached.
Much like the first test of the new chassis on the IMS road course just over one month ago, Alexander Rossi and Alex Palou were the two drivers that put the car through its paces.
This time, both drivers headed out on the banking and completed first evaluations at speeds that appeared to approach 215 MPH.
“It does everything that IndyCar Series machinery should do around here,” Rossi said after his runs.
“We got through some basic mechanical and aero changes to kind of understand the offsets that they’re going to present to us in a couple of years, and there was no surprise. It was really pretty standard.
“I don’t think that there needs to really be any major glaring issues. It’s all just early days and trying to get time on it and understanding what little adjustments do here and there. There’s nothing huge separating it from the current car that we have.”
That familiarity is a favorable response as far as the series is concerned, because the current DW12 chassis has been refined for many years.
The current cars race well and produce exciting racing, including the closest-ever Indy 500 finish just this past May.
So to have the first runs of the IR-28 feel similar from a driver’s perspective means the new car should be able to produce similarly exciting racing starting in 2028.
With positive feedback, Dallara and IndyCar will now work on producing a second functioning car to begin testing how the new design behaves in dirty air.
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