The hillsides were green, the temperature perfect and the 2.38-mile, 12-turn Sonoma Raceway was again welcoming to IZOD IndyCar Series teams.
Ten driver-car combinations completed a test Feb. 27 in advance of the first IZOD IndyCar Series Open Test on March 12-13 at Barber Motorsports Park. Both venues host races this season. The season-opening Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is March 24.
Spectators were welcome to watch the morning and afternoon sessions and participate in a Q&A with drivers during the break.
"This is a great time of year to be out on track," said JR Hildebrand, driver of the No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing car and a resident of nearby Sausalito, Calif. "Run to run, morning to afternoon, things are much more consistent. Once you get into summer, that element changes. It’s a very temperature-sensitive track. As far as the actual track conditions go, they are always a little bit different.”
It was the initial on-track activity of the year for Hildebrand and Ed Carpenter Racing owner/driver Ed Carpenter.
Other participants included KV Racing Technology's Tony Kanaan and Simona de Silvestro, Panther Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's Oriol Servia, Dragon Racing's Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Saavedra, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports' Tristan Vautier, Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports' Simon Pagenaud, and Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport.
The reigning IZOD IndyCar Series champion, who tested in the No. 1 Team DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda car last week at Sebring International Raceway, drove a few stints in Carpenter's No. 20 Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka car.
“We (were) working through some methodical changes that Ed Carpenter Racing had coming here,” Hunter-Reay said. "Sonoma is a very tricky racetrack. You can never do enough laps here. You never quite get the lap where you think, 'I've got it; I nailed it.' That's great because it challenges you, it challenges the engineers.
"Every lap you can get around here is extremely important."
Sonoma Raceway will host the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma on Aug. 23-25. For information or to purchase tickets, call 800-870-RACE (7223) or visit www.racesonoma.com/indycar.
"I had a good day at the office," said Bourdais, driver of the No. 7 Dragon Racing car who will celebrate his 34th birthday Feb. 28. "Great to see so many people on site for our test day."
