Hunter-Reay impressed with Honda power in early going

Ryan Hunter-Reay was involved in the early development of 2.2-liter, twin turbocharged V-6 engine as Chevrolet rejoined the IZOD IndyCar Series in 2012.

The Andretti Autosport driver, who rode that engine to the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series championship and two victories this past season, now is involved in the offseason development of Honda Performance Development's twin turbocharged engine.

Andretti Autosport announced at the season finale Oct. 19 that it would switch to Honda power for the 2014 season. Hunter-Reay joined Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Simon Pagenaud of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in testing the engine Nov. 18 at Sebring International Raceway.

"I'm very impressed with the power and delivery," Hunter-Reay said. "We're all happy with how we started testing. The development side of it is a lot of fun. You have an opportunity to customize and personalize and have your impact on a program. What we do right now is important, to get every bit of data out of every day, is crucial to the 2014 championship.

"All the hard work going into it will make a big difference come the season opener at St. Pete. It's great to get back to it."