Scott McLaughlin leads teammate Will Power on a Penske 1-2 at Barber test. Juri Vips takes part substituting for Jack Harvey.
After a disappointing start to the season, after the Firestone GP, Team Penske scored the fastest times out of the 16 cars participating at the private test that took part at Barber Motorsports Park, on March 13th. Scott McLaughlin led the timetables at the chequered flag, with a 01:06:222. Defending champion Will Power came home second, two-tenths behind.
Honda-powered Christian Lundgaard and Alex Palou were third and fourth, splitting the Penske trio, as Josef Newgarden closed the top 5.
Marcus Armstrong led the rookies, finishing in sixth position. Pedersen, Canapino, and Robb were outside the top 10.
But, a different face took part in the test. Substituting Jack Harvey, who wasn’t cleared by the medics after he was involved in a big accident with Kyle Kirkwood and Rinus VeeKay at St. Pete, former Formula 2 and Red Bull Junior Juri Vips drove the Rahal no. 30 to thirteenth place.
Unofficial lap times were:1- McLaughlin (Team Penske Chevy) – 01.06.222 – 104 laps2- Power (Team Penske Chevy) – 01.06.429 – 97 laps3- Lundgaard (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda) – 01.06.525 – 81 laps4- Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) – 01.06.570 – 72 laps5- Newgarden (Team Penske Chevy) – 01.06.752 – 46 laps
6- Armstrong (R) (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) – 01.06.766 – 82 laps
7- Malukas (Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports Honda) – 01.06.775 – 93 laps
8- Ericsson (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) – 01.06.779 – 40 laps
9- Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda) – 01.06.786 – 79 laps
10- Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) – 01.06.805 – 76 laps
11- Castroneves (Meyer Shank Racing Honda) – 01.07.147 – 83 laps
12- Pedersen (R) (AJ Foyt Racing Chevy) – 01.07.436 – 96 laps
13- Vips (R)* (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda) – 01.07.466 – 91 laps
14- Canapino (R) (Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevy) – 01.07.551 – 84 laps
15- Robb (R) (Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports Honda) – 01.07.580 – 93 laps
16- Pagenaud (Meyer Shank Racing Honda) – 01.07.674 – 92 laps
*Didn’t start a race this season
