Alexander Rossi spent much of the day on Saturday shaking down the brand new IR-28 chassis on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
The 11-year IndyCar veteran was chosen to be the first driver to take the new car up to speed, and was given a chance to do just that this weekend.
After a few install laps and waiting out some rain showers, Rossi pulled out and completed roughly 50 minutes of running to properly feel out how the car behaved.
He was all smiles after climbing from the car, and talked to select media about his unique experience.
“Can I buy it?” Rossi joked. “Is it for sale? There’s only one, so I doubt it.
“It’s cool! I’ve been a part of a few car launches before, and I can’t say any have gone as smoothly as this one has. It’s down to all those involved, and it was a pretty cool day to be able put it on track.
“It was a lot of fun just to know that you’re part of the future. It was also fun because it was drying conditions and you had to kind of search for the grip a bit, which is always entertaining.
“The car is just really rewarding. It doesn’t do anything unpredictable, and gives you good feedback and you know what’s coming, which is great.”
No teething issues
Rossi was able to stay on track nearly uninterrupted for close to an hour, which speaks to how well prepared the entire project was.
A team of Dallara technicians was on hand, and they directed the testing plan. A mixed up car crew, which had members from Andretti Global, Dreyer and Reinbold, Ed Carpenter Racing among others, helped prep the car for actual track running.
The car does not have the next iteration of 2.4-liter motor, but instead has a mule engine from the planned 2.4-liter refresh that never came to be in 2022.
The car also does not currently have a hybrid system, but with the entire chassis itself new from the ground up, there was plenty for Rossi to evaluate on track.
“It’s awesome,” said Rossi. “Hard to really do a full compare with the conditions we were dealing with since it was damp in some areas out there.
“Everything you could hope for from a day like today was accomplished. The fact that the car is completely new, we did like four install [laps] on Tuesday and the face we just had one sensor to be replaced. That was the only real issue, and today was phenomenal.
“Huge testament to Dallara and everyone involved. The car has a lot of incredible qualities to it that we haven’t even really scratched the surface of yet. Incredible start and just enjoying being able to drive it.”
Alex Palou will climb behind the wheel on Sunday for further testing, and plenty of more testing is currently being scheduled for after the 2026 season finishes in early September.
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