IndyCar got back on track this week as the drivers geared up for two days of Pre-Season Testing at the Sebring International Raceway. With every driver for the upcoming season now confirmed and a brand new team on the grid in the form of PREMA, everyone was eager to climb back into the cars and get back to doing what we all love most – racing. Here’s what you need to know.
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https://everythingtrackside.com/a-golden-age-of-indycar-in-2025/
Pre-Season Testing – Day 1
Pato O’Ward put in the fastest overall time on the first day of testing with a time of 52.3470 seconds. Hot on his heels though was Marcus Armstrong with a time of 52.3675 seconds. Alex Palou was just behind the pair of them in third.
“Oh, man, it’s the best feeling in the world; it’s the best job in the world. I was so excited to come back to Sebring and get into an IndyCar Series car, getting to work with the engineers again. It definitely feels like home.” – Pato O’Ward
While testing is never a sure-fire indicator of how the season is going to go, Juncos Hollinger Racing will have been encouraged to see their now full time driver, Conor Daly, in fourth place by the end of the first day. The same can be said of AJ Foyt Racing as one of their drivers, Sting Ray Robb, got himself up into sixth place.
There was one incident which involved contact on the first day of testing. Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel was unhurt in the afternoon session after he hit a barrier at the exit of Turn 7, which resulted in his car sustaining moderate damage to the right side and the rear of the car.
Over the course of the two sessions, the drivers completed a combined total of one thousand, three hundred and eleven laps.
| Top Ten in Order | Lap Times |
|---|---|
| Pato O’Ward | 00:52.3470 |
| Marcus Armstrong (No. 60) | 00:52.3675 |
| Alex Palou | 00:52.4948 |
| Connor Daly | 00:52.5931 |
| Christian Lundgaard | 00:52.6626 |
| Sting Ray Robb | 00:52.7761 |
| Will Power | 00:52.8032 |
| Marcus Armstrong (No. 66) | 00:52.8037 |
| Colton Herta | 00:52.8300 |
| Callum Ilott | 00:52.8340 |
Find the full results for the first day of pre-season testing here: https://www.indycar.com/-/media/Files/2025/NICS/00-TESTS/SEB/indycar-results-pcomb-p2.pdf
Pre-Season Testing – Day 2
Will Power was the driver to lead the way however after the second day of testing at Sebring. He also put in not only the fastest lap time of the day, but the fastest lap of the entire test, beating Pato O’Ward’s benchmark time from the previous day. Teammate and two-time Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden was in second place, also beating O’Ward’s time. Both drivers put these laps together in the morning session of the second day.
“It’s funny, after a couple days back in the car, you feel right at home, back to the same old stuff, and going through the same old changes and just confirming stuff.” – Will Power
Pato O’Ward finished the test in third place overall, with Marcus Armstrong and Colton Herta rounding out the top five.
Scott Dixon had only been able to complete two laps on the first day of testing thanks to a mechanical problem. His bad luck continued on the second day as he crashed into the barriers at Turn 6 around fifteen minutes into the morning session. His car suffered minor rear damage. Dixon was unhurt and was able to return to testing.
Less than eight-tenths of a second separated the entire twenty seven car field over the two days of testing.
| Top Ten in Order | Lap Times |
|---|---|
| Will Power | 00:52.2549 |
| Josef Newgarden | 00:52.3191 |
| Pato O’Ward | 00:52.3470 |
| Marcus Armstrong | 00:52.3675 |
| Colton Herta | 00:52.3818 |
| Nolan Siegel | 00:52.4405 |
| Alex Palou | 00:52.4948 |
| Callum Ilott | 00:52.4998 |
| Felix Rosenqvist | 00:52.5273 |
| Conor Daly | 00:52.5746 |
See the full overall results from IndyCar’s Pre-Season Test at Sebring here:
https://www.indycar.com/-/media/Files/2025/NICS/00-TESTS/SEB/indycar-results-pcomb-p4.pdf
https://isitfast.co.uk/indycar-is-better-than-formula-1/
What about Indy NXT?
Back in January, twenty of the drivers competing in this season of Indy NXT also got the chance to go testing at Sebring. But, as it was a private test, lap times and speeds were not officially released. However, some details of finishing positions in the test were released which do make for interesting reading.
Indy NXT newcomer Dennis Hauger, formerly of Formula 2, led overall for Andretti and was nearly a quarter of a second quicker than his closest full-time competitor in the series, Abel Motorsports Driver, Callum Hedge. Hauger’s teammate, Lochie Hughes, was in third while Hedge’s teammate, Myles Rowe, finished the test in fourth. If this isn’t a tease of another season long battle between Andretti and Abel Motorsports, then we’re not sure what is.
Sophia Flörsch hit the ground running as she finished sixth overall and fifth amongst the full-time drivers as she made her debut for HMD Motorsports. She was less than half a second behind Hauger and less than a hundredth of a second ahead of teammate Caio Collet, who was rookie of the year last year.
Finally, as mentioned above, testing is never a true indicator of where drivers will finish in the opening rounds of the season – and Hailie Deegan may just be the proof in the pudding here. Having moved over to the world of Indy NXT from NASCAR and ARCA Stock Racing, there was always going to be a steep learning curve. But her improvement in just twenty four hours was phenomenal. At the end of the first day of testing, the rookie was 2.9 seconds off the pace but reduced this to 1.8 seconds the following day. That’s a improvement of 1.1 seconds which is quite frankly, a little insane. Deegan will be one to watch over the course of the entire season as she continues to get to grips with her new machinery.
https://everythingtrackside.com/prema-indycar-team-announce-entry-numbers-for-next-season/
Final Thoughts
While everyone will be looking at the likes of Power, Newgarden, O’Ward and Palou for the season ahead, there are others that are worth keeping an eye on. Marcus Armstrong built a strong case for himself over the test as a potential dark horse for the season as he put himself consistently inside the top ten.
Over at Juncos Hollinger Racing, Conor Daly is now a team leader with plenty of experience and while he is known for being an oval master, his skills behind the wheel are not limited to this. His appearances inside the top ten were a welcome twist and he’ll be looking to upset the apple car at the top of the field as soon as he can. The team also announced recently that they’ve paused their Indy NXT program. It will be interesting to see how this plays out further and impacts their season, both on and off track.
“While we have made the difficult choice to pause our INDY NXT program, this decision allows us to concentrate our resources where they can be most effective.” – Juncos Hollinger Racing
Last, but not least, nobody should forget about Colton Herta and Scott Dixon. Herta put in solid lap time after solid lap time over the test and while there is much speculation over his future and his links to Formula 1, he is very much focused on IndyCar for 2025 and is clearly as hungry as ever for success.
As for Scott Dixon, even though he had a lot of bad luck over the course of the test, you’d be a fool to count him out at this very premature stage of proceedings. With 6 IndyCar titles to his name, along with an Indy 500 win and being the driver with the second highest number of wins in history (fifty eight), he enters his twenty fourth season of IndyCar in 2025. That’s the longest tenure for any driver in history. In Formula 1 terms, he’s a bit like Fernando Alonso – and you’d never want to underestimate him, no matter what.
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IndyCar commences its 2025 Season on March 2nd with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Feature Image: IndyCar and Chris Owens