A good portion of the NTT IndyCar Series paddock headed to Iowa Speedway on Wednesday to take part in a private test session around the 0.875-mile oval.
Eight teams and 20 drivers were present, with Colton Herta setting the fastest lap of the day in his Andretti Autosport Honda.
Ryan Hunter-Reay was just a tick slower in the #20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevy as he attempted to give his new team helpful feedback about the car’s performance.
Lapping third quickest was Simon Pagenaud, which gave the top of the timesheets a different look than a typical race result.
As ever, the ultimate goal of the test day was not to set the fastest time, but rather to spend time trying out different setups and strategies that they can then bring to the event later in the year.
Herta not only set the fastest time, he also turned the most laps at 292. That will give his team plenty of data to work through in the coming month.
The test was important enough to bring in so many drivers in part because there will be two full points paying races on the weekend of July 21-23.
Those two races also serve as a precursor to the oval event at Gateway a month later, and combined the events serve as the only short oval racing on the calendar.
Completing the test in June also gives the engineering teams plenty of time to analyze the data so they can bring a competitive setup package when they return next month.
Arrow McLaren was not present at the test at all, and neither was Team Penske. Those two squads have done very well at Iowa in recent years, but may find themselves a step behind this year due to them choosing to use their limited test days elsewhere.
The next race on the schedule for IndyCar is a trip to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on July 2, which serves as a home event for Honda and the teams that run their engines.
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