The future is here. On an historic day interrupted by weather, 2016 Indianapolis 500 champion Alexander Rossi drove the new Ir-28 Indy car on its first official test run at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Rossi had nothing but praise for everyone who helped prepare the car for the test and shared how meaningful the test was for him.

“I’ve been a part of some new car launches before, and I can’t say that any have gone as smooth as this one has,” Rossi said. “That’s down to everyone involved. We’ve all been waiting for this for a long time. Drivers, fans, teams, sponsors and all of you have been looking forward to it, and now it’s finally here.”

Rossi compared the day to Christmas morning.He continued his assessment of the car and the test.

“The car has a lot of incredible qualities that we haven’t even scratched the surface of yet. It was an incredible start and just a joy to drive.”

“Aesthetically, it ticks every box you could hope for,” he said. “I was blown away the first time I saw it. The pictures don’t do it justice. The presence it has in person is pretty amazing. It looks aggressive, and even with a completely new chassis, new aerodynamics, new electronics and a spec damper package, the baseline was very comfortable from the get-go. There’s obviously a lot more to unlock, but it was a great starting point.”

“To be able to be a part of this next evolution of INDYCAR and do it at IMS, a place that means so much to me and all of us here, is super cool,” Rossi said. “I get to play a small part in the history and the future of this championship, and that’s a big privilege. I enjoyed every minute of it.”

Tomorrow 2026 Indianapolis 500 champion Alex Palou gets an opportunity to test the car. Sunday’s run is scheduled to go from 8 am to 2 pm, weather permitting.

Notes

The car is much better looking in person than it appears in teh photos and renderings.

The aeroscreen is wider than the renderings show it to be, but it still is a major improvement over what we see on the current car. Integrating the screen into the framework is a big help.

The rear wing on the road course configuration is massive.

I loved the sound of the engine. I know the actual engines may not sound exactly like what we heard today, but it was loud and throaty like an IndyCar engine should be.

Even at today’s modest laps, I could tell, this car is fast. I liked the way it exited turn 14 and how it ran up the front stretch.

I’ll close with a few more photos I shot today. I can’t wait to see this car on tack again tomorrow.