Reigning NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou led the first day of the two-day all-teams test on Sebring International Raceway’s short course, posting a best lap in the afternoon of 52.088s in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard was second in the No. 45 Honda (52.107s, +0.019s) and Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden was third in the No. 2 Chevy (52.129s, +0.041s).
Andretti Global’s Colton Herta was fourth in the No. 26 Honda (52.190s, +0.102s) and Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi made it five cars from five different teams in the top five with his No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevy (52.252s, +0.164s).
“It was a quick day with offseason testing today,” Palou said. “We always want as many days as possible, but it was still great to be back. The car felt amazing and looked even better on-track than what I had pictured. We went through quite a few things, as everyone did today. We had a big list from engineering, and we tried to get through as much as we possibly could. We obviously couldn’t check everything off the list, but we found a few good things and were quite fast at the end of the day. This was actually my first time being P1 in Sebring so I’m very, very happy with that and how the day went overall. Now, we’re looking ahead to St. Pete, which is coming up fast where we’ll look to have an amazing start to the season.”