15 IndyCars to test in Texas before second round

On Wednesday, March 2, it will be the turn of the oval rookies, with Andretti Autosport-Honda running Romain Grosjean and Devlin DeFrancesco, Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda running Christian Lundgaard, Juncos Hollinger Racing-Chevrolet testing Callum Ilott, AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet in action with Kyle Kirkwood and Dale Coyne Racing-Honda getting David Malukas up to speed.

Grosjean raced at Gateway last August, and has also passed his Rookie Orientation Program at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but is still classified as an oval rookie.

For Lundgaard and Ilott, an oval will be quite alien. The Dane made a one-off appearance on the Indianapolis road course last year, and raced in St. Petersburg last weekend but has yet to try a left-turn-only track. Before St. Pete, Ilott ran the last three rounds of the 2021 season for Juncos Hollinger, but they were at Portland, Laguna Seca, and Long Beach.

Thanks to their Road To Indy route into IndyCar, the other three drivers in tomorrow’s test have some oval experience in junior formulas, with Malukas having started six oval races, Kirkwood five and DeFrancesco four. Indeed, the trio have all won on ovals, too. But this will be their first experience of Texas Motor Speedway in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Next Monday, IndyCar veterans will be in action, with Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda running its four full-timers Scott Dixon, Alex Palou, Marcus Ericsson and Jimmie Johnson. Six-time IndyCar champion Dixon is also a five-time winner at TMS – indeed, his most recent victory came at the track, when he won the first race in last year’s double-header.

Johnson has scored seven wins at the track, albeit all in NASCAR Cup, but he did pass his rookie oval test at this venue last August, prior to completing the first two stages of ROP at Indy in October. After then deciding that his second season in IndyCar would see him competing on all types of track, this month’s second round of the 2022 season will see him make his oval IndyCar race debut.

Also in action on March 7 will be the Team Penske trio of Will Power, a two-time winner at TMS, Josef Newgarden, a one-time winner there, and Scott McLaughlin. The team’s newest driver took a runner-up finish at Texas last May, his first ever oval race, later in the season also scored a fourth place at another oval, Gateway, and last weekend scored his first IndyCar win at St. Petersburg.

Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet duo Rinus VeeKay and Conor Daly will also be in action, although team owner Carpenter (a former Texas winner) confirmed to Motorsport.com that he will not be seen in the cockpit next Monday. However, he will drive a third ECR car in the race at TMS, ahead of his 19^th entry in the Indy 500, an event for which he’s taken pole three times, with a best finish of runner-up in 2018.