INDIANAPOLIS – Alex Palou saw IndyCar’s new chassis, the Dallara IR 28, prior to July’s Music City Grand Prix, IndyCar’s most recent race. When Palou got to Nashville Superspeedway and saw his No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda in the current chassis, the DW12, he said, “Ah, there’s something missing” to himself before ultimately winning the race.
On Sunday, Palou got to drive the IR28 for the first time, as he did 35 laps on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course after Alexander Rossi did 36 laps Saturday. Given the damp conditions he had to drive through, Palou was surprised at the grip and downforce the car, which will debut in 2028, provided.
“The car feels a lot smoother, a lot more connected,” Palou said after doing his last stint of laps of the day. “I wouldn’t say easier to drive, but it just feels like you don’t need to fight crazy with the car.”
Besides weather conditions that limited Palou and Rossi’s two three-hour test sessions to under three hours combined, IndyCar and Dallara completed what they aspired to heading into the weekend.
“This is all about learning,” Mike O’Gara, IndyCar vice president of competition and race engineering, said. “Obviously, nothing kept us from running aside from weather, but everything functioned as it was supposed to. But it’s just a matter of refining some different areas right now. But obviously, the big pieces – the gearbox, the brake system, all that stuff – functioned. But you can always make stuff better.”
O’Gara, who worked with Palou as CGR’s team manager until being hired by IndyCar in April, was “pleasantly surprised” at the pace of the car, despite speed not being the goal of this weekend’s test. Palou, who’s six races away from winning his fifth IndyCar championship, feels like the car’s speed will be series-altering.
“I don’t know, maybe I’m talking too early, but I think we’re going to break a lot of IndyCar records on all kinds of tracks,” Palou said. “So, it just feels like it’s a faster car. It feels like it’s a car that is more capable.”
Now that the IR28 has done legitimate laps on a racetrack, Dallara and IndyCar will use their data and feedback to adjust the chassis going forward. O’Gara said Palou and Rossi gave “very similar” feedback, with both drivers suggesting alterations to the car’s brake bias and aerodynamic balance. Palou said the biggest changes he wants made are adjustments in the cockpit rather than anything substantial concerning the car’s drivability.
“All of that’s lining up, which helps us,” O’Gara said. “If we had two completely separate sets of feedback, it would be a tougher job, but they were very aligned in what they had to say.”
With IndyCar having five straight race weekends (and six races total) to end its season, the IR28 won’t return to a track until after the season ends, as the technical crew for this weekend’s tests featured crew members from a variety of teams. The car will hit the IMS oval for the first time in September, but IndyCar wants to ensure that the balance is correct and the loads between downforce loads correlate. O’Gara said, “Everything’s got to be just perfect” with the IR28 before the series sends it onto the high-speed oval.
The anticipation for the IR28 only heightened this week, despite the DW12 having one season and six races remaining in what will be a 16-year lifespan.
“Alex Palou said it this morning, I wish we could go race this thing next year,” O’Gara said. “And I’m the same way. The thing, right now, that’s keeping us from racing is manufacturing and making sure everyone has what they need to go racing. But having this early testing, and this being successful … is going to allow Dallara to start pulling the trigger and start on the long lead items.”
The first IR28 tests went better than expected, with the car not having any significant failures. IndyCar and Dallara will continue testing the chassis before Honda and Chevrolet, IndyCar’s two engine manufacturers, get chassis to test either late this year or in the first quarter of 2027.
Zion Brown is IndyStar’s motorsports reporter. Follow him at @z10nbr0wn. Get IndyStar’s motor sports coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Motor Sports newsletter. Subscribe to the YouTube channel IndyStar TV: IndyCar for a behind-the-scenes look at IndyCar and expert analysis.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Alex Palou feels new IndyCar car could break track records after testing at IMS
Reporting by Zion Brown, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Zion Brown, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
