IndyCar News: Rosenqvist quickest at Homestead Day 1
Meyer Shank Honda driver Felix Rosenqvist was fastest on the first of three days of IndyCar testing at the Homestead-Miami roval in Florida Monday.
–by Mark Cipolloni–
The Swede turned the best unofficial lap of 1m11.244s in the No. 66 Honda, 0.2s faster than Marcus Ericsson of Andretti Global in the No. 98 Honda.
![Homestead Florida - Felix Rosenqvist checks out his Meyer Shank Racing livery](https://www.autoracing1.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/indycar/misc/homestead-test-rosenqvist.jpg)
It was a Honda 1-2-3 with Alex Palou 3rd for Chip Ganassi Racing. The fastest Chevy-powered car was David Malukas in the #5 Arrow McLaren entry.
Due to money being tight in IndyCar, teams were limited to just 3 sets of Firestone tires and degradation was high, limiting the ability of teams to focus on qualifying hot laps.
Some teams brought IndyCar’s new lightweight chassis components to the test. They are currently in limited supply and save about 30 pounds to offset the heavy Hybrid system components coming later this year. In other words, robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Between paying for the hybrid system and the lightweight Magnesium components to offset its weight, it is costing the teams a lot of money they don’t have.
Homestead Day 1 Test Times
Pos | No | Name | Time | Behind | Gap | FL | Laps | Speed (mph) | Engine | Team |
1 | 66 | Felix Rosenqvist | 1m11.2443s | 0.000s | 0.000s | 25 | 39 | 111.672 | Honda | Meyer Shank Racing |
2 | 98 | Marcus Ericsson | 1m11.4459s | 0.2016 | 0.2016 | 27 | 49 | 111.357 | Honda | Andretti Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian |
3 | 10 | Alex Palou | 1m11.5286s | 0.2843 | 0.0827 | 45 | 63 | 111.228 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
4 | 5 | David Malukas | 1m11.7574s | 0.5131 | 0.2288 | 40 | 59 | 110.874 | Chevy | Arrow McLaren |
5 | 78 | Agustin Canapino | 1m12.2490s | 1.0047 | 0.4916 | 44 | 49 | 110.119 | Chevy | Juncos Hollinger Racing |
6 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | 1m12.3422s | 1.0979 | 0.0932 | 19 | 41 | 109.977 | Chevy | Ed Carpenter Racing |
7 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 1m12.4857s | 1.2414 | 0.1435 | 30 | 40 | 109.760 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
8 | 12 | Josef Newgarden | 1m12.5870s | 1.3427 | 0.1013 | 43 | 53 | 109.606 | Chevy | Team Penske |
9 | 18 | Jack Harvey | 1m13.8947s | 2.6504 | 1.3077 | 9 | 22 | 107.667 | Honda | Dale Coyne Racing with RWR |
10 | 41 | Sting Ray Robb | 1m14.6318s | 3.3875 | 0.7371 | 18 | 26 | 106.603 | Chevy | A.J. Foyt Enterprises |