INDIANAPOLIS — There is plenty that remains unknown about the NTT IndyCar Series’ next-generation car.
Alexander Rossi discovered a little more Wednesday.
On a hot and humid day with temperatures climbing into the low 90s at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Rossi became the first driver to turn a wheel in the superspeedway configuration of the IR-28 chassis, beginning the next phase of IndyCar’s development of its new-for-2028 car.
“It does everything that IndyCar Series machinery should do around here,” Rossi said. “We got through some basic mechanical and aero changes to kind of understand the offsets that they’re going to present to us in a couple of years, and there was no surprise. It was really pretty standard.”
The test marked the first time the IR-28 has run on an oval after making its public track debut early last month on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Rossi and Alex Palou shared driving duties during that initial outing, extended to three days because of rain.
Both drivers are back for this oval test, with ECR’s Rossi again representing Chevrolet teams and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Palou representing Honda teams, and learning how the car responds to the unique demands of an oval.
The IR-28 is designed to be lighter than the current car, with revised aerodynamics intended to improve stability and reduce the aerodynamic disadvantage of closely following another car. Wednesday’s laps at IMS provided the first indication of how those objectives translate to an oval.
“The car is doing everything it’s supposed to,” said Mike O’Gara, IndyCar’s vice president of Competition and Race Engineering. “Obviously, Dallara took everything they knew from the DW12 and put it into this car. Immediately, without honestly changing any setup on it, Alex (Rossi) went out and was flat on the throttle and very comfortable.”
That was an encouraging first step, but O’Gara and Rossi each stressed that Wednesday was about gathering information rather than chasing performance.
IndyCar is approaching the test with a “crawl, walk, run” philosophy, using Rossi’s laps to begin understanding how the car responds to changes before pushing the development further.
That gradual approach is particularly important on an oval.
The current Indy car has been developed for more than a decade, and its Speedway package is highly refined. The IR-28, meanwhile, is beginning that process from scratch.
Rossi said the IR-28 already feels how an IndyCar Series car should on the 2.5-mile IMS oval, even if there is still considerable work ahead.
“I wouldn’t say there was anything drastically different from this car to the current car that we have,” Rossi said. “Some subtle things here and there if you’re really nitpicking at it, but, in general, I think it’s important to remember that the current-generation Speedway car that we have around here is pretty dialed and it’s pretty good.”
That makes Wednesday less about discovering a revolutionary difference and more about identifying the smaller changes that can ultimately shape the 2028 car.
“I don’t think that there needs to really be any major glaring issues,” Rossi said. “It’s all just early days and trying to get time on it and understanding what little adjustments do here and there. There’s nothing huge separating it from the current car that we have.”
O’Gara said the ease with which 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Rossi adapted was another positive sign.
“I was just talking to (IndyCar Officiating technical director) Nick Allen, who’s sort of pseudo-crew chief this week, and super happy with how easy the car is to work on,” O’Gara said. “It’s very intuitive.”
Rossi’s test day was the first step. 2025 Indianapolis 500 winner Palou takes over Thursday, giving IndyCar and Dallara another perspective on the car and its potential in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” The feedback from Rossi and Palou will be measured against the data collected by engineers as development continues toward the car’s race debut in 2028.
