Alex Palou had his turn in the IR-28 on the IMS oval Thursday. despite a stoppage for rain, the entire run plan for today got completed.

Today was cooler than Wednesday, and the new Indy race car responded. Some media members clocked speeds in the 217 mph range and a best lap pf 218.1 mph.

“Very fun,” the five-time series champion said. “At the beginning, it was super fun because it’s a new car and you’re back at the Speedway. Then you’re like, ‘Can we go faster?’ “

Palou said he had not talked with Alexander Rossi, who tested the car Wednesday, in detail.

 “I think he did a lot of basic stuff. Even us, we did a lot of basic stuff and trying to get a lot of data for Dallara itself to try and see what the car is doing when we get like crazy ride heights up, down, like just trying to get like basic numbers.”

“We got a lot more laps than I expected with the weather, and the car felt good,” Palou said. “We actually got quite a lot of speed. We improved over 2 miles an hour throughout the day, and we didn’t really work too much to get it.”

Palou noted that the test machine does not have the hybrid component installed. He expects the car to be faster when the final package is complete next year. Palou corroborated Rossi’s assessment of the similarity between the new car and the current one.

The schedule for future testing has not been announced, but there will be a test at Sebring this fall. Palou believes he will be one of the drivers at the Florida track.

Notes

Some observations from this non gear head:

The IR-28 has a leaner and seemingly lower profile than the current racer.

The trash basket look of the current aeroscreen in a head on view is gone, giving the car a sleeker look.

That rear wing will take some getting used to. It looks like an F1 car deploying DRS. I have no idea how it is supposed to work.

I love the livery IndyCar is using for the test. I remarked to a fellow media member today that IndyCar should mandate the use of this design each race weekend in 2028.

Thanks for following along these two days. It was fun watching this machine run on the oval..

Below are a few photos from today.