IndyCar News: PREMA Racing completes first INDYCAR test

It was a memorable day for PREMA Racing in Southern California as the team wrapped up its first INDYCAR test at Thermal Club.

Lining up its two Chevrolet-powered Dallara racecars for the first time on track, the team carried out a thorough program with drivers Robert Shwartzman and Callum Ilott. Taking advantage of the warm and sunny weather conditions, the team made its first steps with the INDYCAR machinery, which included some early install laps and troubleshooting.

PREMA Racing completes first INDYCAR test at Thermal Club

In the afternoon, the team tried several set-up configurations to better understand the car’s handling and behavior. The focus was also on race procedures, including pit-stops, ahead of the March debut in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

While Ilott has previous experience at the 3-mile Thermal Club venue that will be hosting round 2 of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES in late March, Shwarztman made his debut at the track and also focused on track familiarization. By the end of the day, the cars completed more than 100 laps.

PREMA Racing completes first INDYCAR test at Thermal Club – Robert Shwartzman

With the team’s official launch and maiden test completed, preparations will now continue ahead of the March 2 opener.

“For this test at Thermal Club the focus was to get as quickly as possible up to pace because in INDYCAR, we don’t have many test days,” said #83 Robert Shwartzman.

“We ran into a couple of small hiccups but fixed them. In the afternoon, we did stick to the program and everything worked out well. We were able to log a good number of laps and went through a solid testing program.

“It’s been a while since I have been in such a fun and nice car to drive, and overall, the feeling is really positive. We worked on getting prepared for the start of the season and the second race here at Thermal. It should be an interesting one.”

“We got quite a few things to work through like any first day of testing, and once we got going properly, we had a good starting point,” said #90 Callum Ilott.

“There’s a lot of anticipation as it’s been a long time coming for this project, so it’s amazing to see everything up and running, along with some other competitors to compare.

“We worked on building a good baseline, adapting and optimizing every little thing, see what’s a good idea and what’s not. There will be some areas to improve and others where we do well. We just need to keep the pace and everything will go well.”