STEAM CORNERS, Ohio – It was one of the most anticipated days of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season, the debut of the long-delayed, often-talked-about hybrid engine.
So much time, effort and money has been spent on this unit that IndyCar believes will increase its relevance in the automotive world, bringing an electrification element to the internal combustion engine.
But with a late afternoon practice time on Friday, and a storm front with high humidity approaching the central Ohio area, it was only a matter of time before rain began to fall.
About 55 minutes into the opening practice, it began to mist, then it began to rain. Rather than put on the rain tires that are available on road and street courses, most teams decided to save the track time for Saturday, when conditions will be sunny and clear.
It was the usual suspects at the front of the field of the session on the 13-turn, 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, led by 2023 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio winner Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing.
He drove the No. 10 Ridgeline Honda to a time of 1:07.0650 for a speed of 121.208 miles per hour.
Alexander Rossi of Arrow McLaren was second at 1:07.5093 (120.410 mph) in the No. 7 Chevrolet.
Rossi won from the pole here in 2018 and has three podium finishes in nine previous starts. Palou’s last three races at Mid-Ohio have produced a third place in 2021, a second place in 2022 and a win last year.
Palou ran just eight laps and Rossi ran 13. The most laps completed by any driver was 20 by rookie Toby Sowery in the No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing RWR Honda.
“Yeah, it was short,” Palou said. “Not much running. Only got nine laps. I think everybody wanted to get more. We didn’t really get all the learnings we wanted, but it was kind of hard waiting a little bit and the red flag screwed us up and then also the rain.
“Yeah, happy with the first run we got, but we’re looking forward to tomorrow.”
Marcus Armstrong of Chip Ganassi Racing was third at 1:07.5442 (120.348 mph) in the No. 11 Honda. Colton Herta of Andretti Global was fourth at 1:07.6346 (120.187 mph) in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.
Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske was fifth in the No. 3 Chevrolet at 1:07.6827 (120.102 mph).
Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren was seventh, right behind Ohio’s own Graham Rahal, and O’Ward offered some insight into the inconclusive practice session with the hybrid engine.
“Obviously not ideal that it started raining there at the end,” he said. “I would have liked to get a few more laps. We truly only kind of got one lap. Everything else was just always traffic, stack-ups, everybody trying to get clean gaps, but these tracks aren’t long enough for the 27 cars that we have. So that’s kind of been a little tough in these practice sessions.
“But at least we got one in, a decent lap in, that we can look over and really see what we need. I know what we need from the car, so that’s the most important thing.”
With much improved weather for the rest of the weekend, O’Ward expects a very useful and insightful practice session on Saturday morning before qualifications later in the day.
“I think Practice 2 will be obviously the most important going into qualifying,” O’Ward said. “I don’t expect this race to be any different to the last few years. It’s going to be a track position race, very sensitive to where you qualify, and yeah, that’s going to be the full focus tomorrow, just trying to get this car as close to the front row as we can.”
With so much testing to the hybrid engine, many of the drivers have a good sense of what it can do and when to use it. Both O’Ward and Palou have played a major role in that testing program and how even with limited horsepower in the early days of the project, it still provides a kick of energy.
“You can feel it,” O’Ward said. “You can definitely feel it when you engage the deploy. It’s obviously not as big as I think people are thinking in terms of lap time. It’s less than two-tenths, I would say, with a perfectly optimized usage of deployment strategy.
“I think the system is capable of so much more, so I would like to see that evolve into let’s really push this system and see how much it can actually give us in terms of lap time because if it gives us four-, five-, six-tenths over the lap, I think that’s when we’ll really see it getting optimized by all the teams and just trying to perfect it as much as possible because now it won’t be as — it’ll usually overthrow a little balance difference in the car exactly.
“So far, I think we’re just working through it. Obviously, it’s brand new, and we just need to kind of go through the whole process, I’d say.”
Honda helped develop the ultracapacitor Energy Storage System (ESS) and Chevrolet/Ilmor helped develop the Motor Generator Unite (MGU). Ilmor will assemble and distribute the combined package to the IndyCar Series teams.
With the automotive industry moving toward electrification of some type, many motorsports series around the world have already taken the giant leap toward that technology. Formula E has become the world’s leader in an all-electric powerplant in racing. World Endurance Challenge (WEC) and IMSA have already moved into the hybrid era, combining electrification with the internal combustion engine to get the best of both in extreme motorsports competition.
The combination of hybrid assist and push-to-pass will create a combined 120 additional horsepower to each driver.
According to information provided by IndyCar, both components of the hybrid power unit will fit inside the bellhousing — the size of a milk crate — located between the internal combustion engine and the gearbox.
During regeneration, acting on the clutch shaft, the MGU builds power to be stored in the ESS. The additional horsepower is deployed through the same motor generator on driver demand, according to IndyCar.
Teams and drivers can use regen options automatically through braking or throttle position or manually through selected steering wheel paddles or buttons.
Deployment is only available through a latching button similar to the existing push-to-pass system.
Hybrid assist will be added to the options of traditional push-to-pass on road and street courses but cannot be used at the same time on ovals.
Using both at the same time will give drivers and cars a boost of over 120 horsepower.
It will be the first time at IndyCar engine has produced more than 800 horsepower in two decades.
Additional horsepower is expected in the coming years as hybrid unit development evolves, according to IndyCar.
One interesting aspect of Friday’s practice was to see just how fast the hybrid is able to regenerate power. On Friday, it was often regenerated to 100 percent in a half lap.
“There’s different levels to that, and it’s similar to the Formula One car, but it’s the same kind of idea of, like, the braking generates the energy, it goes into the pack, and then you deploy it where you wish,” O’Ward explained. “It’s different to us, we have to manually deploy. If you get out of sequence and you have to manually kind of regen, there’s limits to how much you can regen and limits to how much you can deploy, so there’s a lot of limits that we need to work through.”
It’s an extra tool for the driver to use in competition, which changes the already hectic and chaotic environment inside the cockpit of an Indy car. It can be used in concert with the current push-to-pass system, but that is limited in now much time a driver can actually use it.
The hybrid engine has no time limits, so conceivably a driver could use it every lap.
Jun 21, 2024; Salinas, California, USA; Chip Ganassi Racing driver Alex Palou (10) of Spain speaks after winning pole position during qualifying for the Grand Prix Of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Alex Palou, June 21, 2024 after winning pole at Monterey, California — Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
So far, however, understanding and using the system is not second nature to either Palou or O’Ward.
“I think we’re going to talk about more than I expected,” Palou explained. “Like you see IMSA that they spoke about it for two weeks and that’s it. Everybody forgot. I think with the system, it’s more like push-to-pass. Everybody talks about OT every race weekend, how we use it. I think it’s going to be the same.
“We’re not going to talk about it for qualifying because everybody, we’re going to reach a point where everybody is able to optimize 100 percent, and we’re not going to see a difference there, but we’re going to see, I believe, a difference in race conditions.
“I think we’ll be seeing big differences, so you’ll be speaking about the hybrid part quite a lot.”
O’Ward was asked by NBCSports.com if he has been playing the scenarios of when to use it and when to not deploy the unit in his mind?
“Not really,” he responded. “I think it’s just as you go on and as you start using it, you just automatically kind of get used to it. The more you think, the worse you’re going to use it, in my opinion.
“You’re just going to get confused.”
Palou, however, said he has been giving it serious thought.
“It’s a tool that doesn’t gain you a lot, but it gains you enough to make differences,” Palou responded to NBCSports.com. “Yeah, it’s the same as braking, right; when we get to new tracks or new stuff, you always need to try and think about your braking spots and your driving references. I think it’s just an add-on to the driving references that we’re going to have.
“Obviously by the end of the weekend, you don’t even talk or think about it anymore because it comes naturally, but to start the weekend, I think so.
“We’re a lot busier now than we were before. You need to deploy — like every time you deploy, you can deploy it 10 times if you want, you can deploy one big one. So, every time you need to hit the buttons, the paddles, whatever systems the drivers have.”
This was the first day of a new era for IndyCar, the hybrid era, and like every evolution in racing, it will take time to figure it out.
But on Day 1, because of weather and a red flag, the IndyCar Series teams and drivers simply ran out of time to conclude the effectiveness of the hybrid engine.
