THERMAL, Calif. — On Friday, Kyle Kirkwood led the final session of IndyCar’s two-day Spring Training open test at The Thermal Club as he got acquainted with his new team at Andretti Autosport.
Kirkwood drove for the team in Indy Lights and is the new driver of the No. 27 Honda previously driven by Alexander Rossi.
Kirkwood’s time of 1:38.827 around the 3.067-mile Thermal Club road course for a speed of 111.721 mph was the fastest of the final session. But the fastest combined speed for the two days was defending Indianapolis 500 winning driver Marcus Ericsson of Chip Ganassi Racing in the Friday morning session.
Ericsson’s fast time was 1:38.4228 (112.182 mph) in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Honda.
Ericsson is returning to a team that was successful in 2022, including a big win in the 106th Indianapolis 500 and a championship bid that went into the final race of the season.
“We’ve had quite the extensive test program here over the past two days,” Ericsson said. “We worked very hard in the winter to try to get different things on the set-up side where we think we can improve our package for road and street course races. We’ve gone through that program, and I think we’ve found some interesting things that will make us stronger as a team. That’s very promising and of course now, we’ll have a lot of data to analyze but I’m confident that we made some improvements.”
As for Kirkwood, he is hoping to challenge for the top of the grid after spending his rookie season in 2022 with AJ Foyt Racing.
“I was excited last year,” Kirkwood admitted. “My entire goal last year was to take a car that everyone knows is usually mid pack or towards the back and put it up front. That was always a goal of mine. That was exciting for me. It’s also exciting to be in a fast car and be fast in a fast car. There are benefits to both. I’m just as excited as I was last year, to be honest.
“I’m definitely leaving this place in a happier spot than most of the events last year.”
Kirkwood is also getting to know his engineer, Jeremy Milless, and his chief mechanic, Skid Marks. That is what made the two-day test beneficial for the newest Andretti Autosport driver.
“It’s a new team for me, new group of guys, kind of gelling with them to see how everyone operates, see how their lingo is, is the most important thing,” Kirkwood said. “I wouldn’t say that we found something here that is going to translate to anywhere, right? This is a unique track, although it was a lot of fun to drive and it kind of surprised me in the amount of grip that it produced.
“Quite a bit faster than what we expected.”
Callum Ilott of Juncos Racing was second in the final session at 1:38.8404 (111.707 mph) in the No. 77 Chevrolet. Rookie Marcus Armstrong of New Zealand was third at 1:38.8049 (111.707 mph) in the No. 11 American Legion Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.
“My expectation, or at least my goal, was to be top-5 at the test,” Armstrong said. “I think it went better than I expected. I got used to the car quicker than I thought. I thought there might be a day where I go, ‘Woah, okay that is what it is like.’ But I felt comfortable right away. Satisfaction is the killer of motorsport, so I don’t want to say that I’m satisfied, but it was good.”
Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing was fourth at 1:38.8718 (111.672 mph) in the No. 10 American Legion Honda for CGR. Defending NTT IndyCar Series champion Will Power of Team Penske rounded out the top five at 1:38.9341 (111.602 mph) in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet.
Ericsson was the fastest in combined times followed by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard at 1:38.5682 in the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda for a speed of 112.016 mph) followed by Kirkwood at 111.766 mph, Ilott’s 111.707 mph and Armstrong’s 111.707.
The speeds from positions three to five were from the final practice session on Friday.
Many of the NTT IndyCar Series teams will test later this month at Sebring, Fla., as they prepare for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg that will kick off the season on March 5.
“We’ll roll into Sebring here in a week, two weeks, whatever it is, and really nail the street course stuff,” Kirkwood said.