IndyCar teams take over Mid-Ohio for test
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| Robin Frijns |
Agendas varied in the one-day team test Thursday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, but they shared one common goal: finding the quickest way around the 2.258-mile permanent road course in Lexington, Ohio, that plays host to The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio from July 29-31.
A total of 17 cars logged test laps, with official times not reported since it was a team test day. Some teams used the day to fine-tune setups for the upcoming race weekend. Several others used the opportunity to test and evaluate current or former Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires, a testing incentive built into the Verizon IndyCar Series rulebook.
Andretti Autosport opted to look at one of its Formula E drivers, Robin Frijns, who split the day in the No. 28 DHL Honda with its regular occupant, 2012 Verizon IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Frijns, 24, was a Formula One test driver in 2013-14 but hadn't been behind the wheel of a high-downforce car since then. He has spent the past two years in Formula E and the Blancpain GT series in Europe.
"It's been more than two years since I drove a downforce car," Frijns said after his day in the Indy car. "Even though I drove Formula One for two years and I drove GP2, then doing nothing on the downforce side and then jumping back, it's not that easy. It's a big change back."
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| Felix Rosenqvist |
Frijns said his best lap was 1 minute, 5.3 seconds, two-tenths of a second shy of what Hunter-Reay ran in the morning.
"The car is in one piece. I'm in one piece," Frijns said. "Overall I feel pretty happy."
Also testing were Indy Lights drivers Zachary Claman De Melo and Jack Harvey with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, RC Enerson with Dale Coyne Racing and Felix Rosenqvist, who split the day with reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.
Verizon IndyCar Series regulars who tested in addition to Hunter-Reay and Dixon included all four Team Penske drivers (Helio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya, Simon Pagenaud and Will Power), defending Mid-Ohio winner Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, AJ Foyt Racing's Jack Hawksworth and Takuma Sato, Chip Ganassi Racing's Tony Kanaan, KVSH Racing's Sebastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing's Conor Daly and Ed Carpenter Racing's JR Hildebrand and Spencer Pigot.
For a complete recap of the day, click here