The IndyCar test day at the completely resurfaced Laguna Seca Raceway ends right before the season finale with a fabulous best time for Will Power
The Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey (California), which was completely resurfaced this summer, will be the venue for the 2023 IndyCar season finale this weekend. But there was already extensive driving on Thursday. Because of the resurfacing, an official test day was scheduled for the entire 27-strong IndyCar field. Result: The 23-year-old track record is history.
The track layout, including the famous corkscrew passage, was not touched during the resurfacing. On Thursday, last year’s champion Will Power (Penske-Chevrolet) lapped the 3.6-kilometre circuit in a time of 1:07.276 minutes.
Power thus improved the previous Laguna Seca track record after an incredible 23 years. The old record was set in the 2000 CART season by then Penske driver Helio Castroneves at 1:07.722 minutes.
Castroneves was also in action on Thursday, but finished in P27 for Meyer Shank Racing, the last place on the timesheet. He was just 1.6 seconds behind Power.
Thursday’s four-hour test day served as preparation for the final weekend of the 2023 IndyCar season, which officially begins on Friday with the first free practice session and concludes on Sunday with the 95-lap race.
Jüri Vips surprises with P4 after long best time
For comparison: on the ageing Laguna Seca asphalt, the pole time last year was set by the very same Will Power in 1:11.612 minutes. It should be noted that the record of 1:07.276 minutes, now set by Power himself, could fall again this weekend. On Thursday, only the hard tyre compound was used for the race.
Behind the fastest driver of the day, Will Power, the order after four hours of testing was: Christian Lundgaard (Rahal-Honda) in P2, followed by Scott McLaughlin (Penske-Chevrolet) in P3, Jüri Vips, who made his IndyCar debut in the third Rahal-Honda only last weekend in Portland, and Marcus Ericsson (Ganassi-Honda).
To be precise, Thursday was not the first laps on the new Laguna Seca surface for two IndyCar drivers.
That’s because in early July, shortly after the resurfacing was completed, Felix Rosenqvist (McLaren-Chevrolet; 8th) and Alex Palou (Ganassi-Honda; 12th), who is now the champion, were selected by tyre supplier Firestone to choose the tyre compounds for the race weekend. On that occasion, however, no official lap times were taken at the time.
Result IndyCar Test Laguna Seca:
01st Will Power (Penske-Chevrolet) – 1:07.276 minutes (70 laps)
02nd Christian Lundgaard (Rahal-Honda) +0.032 seconds (49)
03 Scott McLaughlin (Penske-Chevrolet) +0.235 (80)
04 Jüri Vips (Rahal-Honda) +0,360 (59)
05 Marcus Ericsson (Ganassi-Honda) +0.370 (62)
06th Alexander Rossi (McLaren-Chevrolet) +0,385 (62)
07 Patricio O’Ward (McLaren-Chevrolet) +0,386 (45)
08 Felix Rosenqvist (McLaren-Chevrolet) +0,410 (59)
09 Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti-Honda) +0.420 (44)
10th Scott Dixon (Ganassi-Honda) +0.469 (48)
11th Graham Rahal (Rahal-Honda) +0.547 (62)
12th Alex Palou (Ganassi-Honda) +0.567 (40)
13th Rinus VeeKay (Carpenter-Chevrolet) +0,586 (59)
14th Santino Ferrucci (Foyt-Chevrolet) +0,657 (45)
15th Josef Newgarden (Penske-Chevrolet) +0,658 (58)
16th Romain Grosjean (Andretti-Honda) +0,675 (51)
17th David Malukas (Coyne-Honda) +0,699 (53)
18th Colton Herta (Andretti-Honda) +0,728 (38)
19th Marcus Armstrong (Ganassi-Honda) +0,839 (53)
20th Agustin Canapino (Juncos-Chevrolet) +0,966 (58)
21st Devlin DeFrancesco (Andretti-Honda) +1,001 (26)
22nd Benjamin Pedersen (Foyt-Chevrolet) +1,026 (45)
23rd Callum Ilott (Juncos-Chevrolet) +1.137 (40)
24th Tom Blomqvist (Shank-Honda) +1.479 (55)
25th Ryan Hunter-Reay (Carpenter-Chevrolet) +1.487 (44)
26th Sting Ray Robb (Coyne-Honda) +1.562 (46)
27th Helio Castroneves (Shank-Honda) +1.607 (27)
