Six of IndyCar’s smaller teams got their first chance to sample the series’ soon-to-be-implemented hybrid power system over the past couple days.
Drivers from Meyer Shank Racing, Juncos Hollinger Racing, Dale Coyne Racing, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, AJ Foyt Racing, and Ed Carpenter racing were all finally able to take the new components on track Thursday and Friday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
None of these teams had been able to test the hybrid system before this week, as all of the development and initial on track testing had been done by teams with more resources available.
Those larger teams had logged more than 21,000 miles of testing since October 2022, driving on all types of tracks and following procedures mostly prescribed by Honda, Chevy, and IndyCar officials.
“It is fairly similar,” said Rinus VeeKay after taking his first laps with the hybrid in his ECR Chevy. “There are just a lot more buttons I need to press, and a lot more stuff I need to go through.
“Usually, I have a clue about knowing what we’re doing, but this is all new so I’m still learning. I hated that I could not give the team much feedback on what we need to do.
“It’s nice to get started with the hybrid. It’s definitely a lot of new stuff for all of us as a team to digest and run through. Pretty good learning so far. We got more running in than I thought with the cool temperatures, but a good start.”
The smaller teams on the grid have been waiting for the better part of a year to get their chance to try out the new system, and were beginning to feel they were being put at a disadvantage because of the disparity in track time.
Drivers that have had multiple days with the new system insist that they were not able to gain much of an advantage, but drivers such as Christian Lundgaard were not convinced of that fact.
This week’s running was a step towards bringing the field onto a more level playing field, and the engine manufacturers went out of their way to brief the teams and drivers with all of the knowledge that had been gained from the other teams’ running.
“Chevy took their time and came to every team and sat us down,” explained Santino Ferrucci. “They had a full explanation. They got through and answered all our questions.
“It’s one of those things where they’re very positive about moving this forward, and then today, working through all of the systems. How to do the brake, on-throttle, off-throttle, the way that we’re saving and how we can use it throughout the lap.
“They’ve been incredibly open about it, and it’s been such an easy adaptation as a driver to move into this and be working in it. I’m not fully comfortable with it, but I am very much enjoying it, and can’t wait until we have it in the series full time.
“You’re really using it as a balancing tool, and the energy they’re giving you for a lap, it’s a lot of work to be using it every lap, depleting it and reusing it, you’re very busy mentally driving the car, not just physically anymore.
“So I think the races are now very long, very difficult, and adding this step is going to add to driver fatigue and you’re going to have to train extra hard on everything that you do. It just needs to become second nature.”
The smaller teams completed approximately 2,000 miles of running with the new hybrid system over the two days of testing, and are likely to have more test days dedicated to their testing programs in the near future.
The hybrid components are still scheduled to be introduced mid-season, sometime after the Indianapolis 500, although a specific race weekend has not yet been identified.
