The old saying “Go West, young man” is apropos for the Verizon IndyCar Series this week, ahead of a busy week of testing for teams and drivers at three key tracks on the left coast.
The action starts today with seven drivers from three teams out at Phoenix International Raceway.
Team Penske’s fearless foursome of Juan Pablo Montoya, Helio Castroneves, Will Power and Simon Pagenaud will join now Ed Carpenter Racing’s Carpenter and Josef Newgarden for a Chevrolet manufacturer test. Despite being listed, KVSH Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais will not test.
Others such as Tony Kanaan, Graham Rahal, James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti have been out in Phoenix already this offseason. “TK” and Rahal tested for Firestone, with “Hinch,” “RHR” and Andretti out there in a Honda test in November.
Here’s some buildup to the test on social media:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBfG3mjCAXJ/
Here we go....it's going to b a long game with these guys! pic.twitter.com/8Zft2S28Ry
— Helio Castroneves (@h3lio) February 8, 2016
Pretty excited to be here in Phoenix. Tomorrow first day back in the office. @IndyCar @Team_Penske @verizon @HawkPerformance
— Juan Pablo Montoya (@jpmontoya) February 7, 2016
Back at the track and back @PhoenixRaceway ! Excited for our 1st test of 2016! #indycar @Team_Penske #22 pic.twitter.com/PLk3zfTy4w
— Simon Pagenaud (@simonpagenaud) February 8, 2016
Happy to be back @PhoenixRaceway for our first test of 2016! pic.twitter.com/gYJzZE0prf
— Ed Carpenter (@edcarpenter20) February 8, 2016
It's not what the #21 will look like the first 4 races - that's still a surprise! - but we can't resist showing you pic.twitter.com/pdX3PAssJX
— Ed Carpenter Racing (@ECRIndy) February 4, 2016
The latter post appears to be a teaser of Newgarden’s temporary Fuzzy’s Vodka colors on what will be his No. 21 Chevrolet.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, the other four-car powerhouse in the series - Chip Ganassi Racing - will have a four-car test of its own.
New signing Max Chilton is set to join the usual trio of Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan and Charlie Kimball, with the Englishman set for his first test in an IndyCar at Sonoma Raceway.
Chilton, who’s been in the U.S. for media day and then stayed in the run up to Sonoma as he prepares for his debut, has been taking in the sights and sounds of San Francisco.
Road tripping on my tod so I thought I better take a look at the king of bridges.#megacity #goldengatebridge
— M A X Chilton (@maxchilton) February 6, 2016
☀️ pic.twitter.com/o3viSVqTsh
As mornings go that was up there.
— M A X Chilton (@maxchilton) February 7, 2016
Enjoyable guided hike around the hills of Sonoma as the sun arose.#greatguide pic.twitter.com/hPYEl5p0B6
Honda won’t be devoid of testing this week as down the road in Fontana, Calif., at Auto Club Speedway, Hinchcliffe, Hunter-Reay and Carlos Munoz will be doing a Honda manufacturer test day on the 2.0-mile oval. While the track won’t see an IndyCar race this year, it remains a good testing location.
Chilton will also have his oval rookie test later this week at the same track, on Saturday. The Englishman failed to start at Indianapolis due to a fuel cell issue, but then promptly won his second oval start at Iowa within the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires.
Sonoma was one of the few tracks Chilton didn’t learn from his training within the Mazda Road to Indy, but he should pick it up pretty easily.
