The cars took their first laps in the tests held this past Monday in the American circuit.
The Indycar return to the tracks. After the end of the championship in September, the engines of the competition have been put back on track. It was the first tests of the season where a few cars rolled in the Sonoma Raceway, a session that was open to the public.
It is precisely the circuit where last season ended and where the 2018 season will also end on the weekend of September 14 to 16. In the test on Monday the three drivers of the Penske team went out to the track, team that includes the current Indycar champion, Josef Newgarden. He marked the best time of the session with a 1: 18.29.
The session also saw the debut of Jordan King, who will drive the Ed Carpenter Raing Chevrolet and Gabby Chaves. The Colombian driver who will race for Harding Racing, makes the final jump to the complete calendar competition after only participate in three races last season.
The pilot himself was able to explain the first sensations aboard the Indycar 2018: “It’s great to be back, and with a team with a lot of commitment, a lot of driving, it was wonderful to get back to this rhythm”, said the Harding Racing driver. “I think it was as good as we could have expected, very few mistakes to deal with, many laps, that’s really good because this is not the same chassis that we ran in those three races last year, this was completely new. It says a lot about team preparation, so I’m very happy”, he said.
Chaves himself was protagonist on the track when he lost control of the car and caused a red flag: “I had new tires and I simply lost it, but luckily I did not touch anything. I tell you, you get excited when you see the tires with the label …”, joked the Colombian driver.
The other teams that took their car to the track were AJ Foyt Racing, Coyne Racing and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.
