Dennis, Blomqvist among Indy rookie testers
Andretti Formula E star Jake Dennis ran his first laps in an Indycar last week as part of a rookie evaluation test granted to all Indycar teams in the off-season.
The 27-year-old Briton was at the wheel of the Andretti Autosport car recently vacated by Alexander Rossi and to be raced next season by Kyle Kirkwood. Dennis was the third fastest of the five drivers in action on Sebring Raceway’s 1.7-mile short course.
Top of the times was Dennis’s 2014 Formula 3 team-mate Tom Blomqvist.
The Kiwi-raised Anglo-swede was testing Meyer Shank Racing’s Indycar less than two weeks after clinching the IMSA Sportscar DPI title in the team’s Acura, and Blomqvist outpaced his nearest rival on the day,
Juri Vips, by 0.3303 seconds. Blomqvist admitted afterwards that, while he is committed to MSR’S sportscar programme for 2023, he would jump at the chance to race in Indycar if the opportunity arose.
Formula 2 ace Vips was testing for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, while his F2 team-mate Marcus Armstrong was driving for Dale Coyne Racing. Although the pair ended the day more than 0.4s apart, and split by Dennis, team owner Coyne told Autosport that the gap was unrepresentative and that the difference between Vips and Armstrong was due to HPD engineers telling the New Zealander to not use his push-to-pass boost during his attempt at a flying lap. Vips turned the most laps of the day at 155, while Armstrong ran for a stout 131 laps.
Juncos Hollinger Racing had the sole Chevrolet-powered car in action, driven by Argentinian touring car ace Agustin Canapino, who was a respectable 1.4s off the ultimate pace. The 32-year-old Canapino, who raced Ricardo Juncos’s Cadillac DPI car in the 2019 Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours, is set to perform demonstration runs of the JHR Indycar in his home country next month.
Coyne stayed on at Sebring for an extra day to try out Singaporean Indy Lights race winner Danial Frost, who will continue with the HMD Motorsports with Coyne Lights team in 2023.