Veekay tops Monday IndyCar Barber test

Rookie Rinus Veekay turned the fastest lap in IndyCar testing at Barber Monday with a time of 1m05.61s in his Ed Carpenter Chevy, just nipping Colton Herta and Pato O’Ward who were the only other drivers in the 1m05s bracket.

After crashing out of the effective race lead at St. Petersburg Alexander Rossi returned setting the fourth-fastest time in his #27 Andretti Honda,  0.4s slower than Veekay and just ahead of Jack Harvey, Connor Daly and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Former F1 driver Marcus Ericsson was eighth fastest and just ahead of his Ganassi Honda teammate and 2020 IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon by 0.011s.

Sebastien Bourdais continues to breathe new life into AJ Foyt Racing as he put his Foyt Chevy 10th quick.

Spaniard Alex Palou, in his first outing for Chip Ganassi Racing ended the test in 11th.

Other Notables

2020 IndyCar Series runner-up Josef Newgarden he ended up 13th ahead of his Penske Chevy teammates Will Power and Simon Pagenaud, who were16th and 17th respectively,.

The newest member of the Penske squad, Scott McLaughlin, was 19th on the timesheets with a 1m06.941s time, only 1.32s slower than the fastest man, VeeKay and 0.3s slower than Power and Pagenaud and 0.53s slower than Penske fast man Newgarden.

Felix Rosenqvist completed his first laps in the Arrow McLaren SP machine after departing Chip Ganassi’s team at the end of the season, he ended the test in 15th.

Formula E champion Antonio Felix da Costa set the 12th fastest time in the 21-car test, driving for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

His best lap, a 1m06.375s, was 0.7606s slower than VeeKay.

da Costa during seat fitting day at RLL’s shop

Speaking afterwards to Autosport, da Costa admitted he found the cars physically challenging to drive, but said he “would love to race IndyCar” in the future, adding that he would be happy to contest oval races.

“A lot of friends and rivals who I’ve raced against in the past have been racing here – people who I respect a lot – and I always have fun watching the races on TV,” he said.

“So I have always wanted to come here and after this test, I go back home today even more curious to have a go in one of these things in an actual race.

“For sure, it’s in the back of my mind that I can do that.

“Obviously I’m committed to Formula E right now and the new season is starting in January. But it’s so easy to fly around the world that I’m sure if we want we could put something together.”

Antonio Felix da Costa (PRT) will need to bring money to land an IndyCar ride. (Photo by Sam Bagnall / LAT Images)

“It’s been a few years since I drove an F1 car and gone through a feeling like this, so it felt like I was a young kid again, which was really nice,” he said.

“In the end it was not too bad.

“The car’s very physical, and I was tense – new track, new car – and by the end of the day I was pretty much done. My neck is sore.

“But anyway, it is a really cool thing to feel so tired because of being in a racecar!”

Jimmie Johnson completed laps in the #48 Chip Ganassi Racing car, the NASCAR legend struggled in last but completed 100 laps, more than the rest of the 21-car field.

Mark C. reporting for AutoRacing1.com

Test Results

Pos No Name Time Diff Gap Laps Speed Engine Team
1 21 Rinus VeeKay 1:05.6148 0.000s 0.000s 65 126.191 Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing
2 88 Colton Herta 1:05.7384 0.1236 0.1236 74 125.954 Honda Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport
3 5 Pato O’Ward 1:05.9059 0.2911 0.1675 66 125.634 Chevy Arrow McLaren SP
4 27 Alexander Rossi 1:06.0179 0.4031 0.1120 56 125.421 Honda Andretti Autosport
5 60 Jack Harvey 1:06.0993 0.4845 0.0814 45 125.266 Honda Meyer Shank Racing
6 20 Conor Daly 1:06.1341 0.5193 0.0348 62 125.200 Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing
7 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay 1:06.1901 0.5753 0.0560 54 125.094 Honda Andretti Autosport
8 8 Marcus Ericsson 1:06.2568 0.6420 0.0667 86 124.968 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
9 9 Scott Dixon 1:06.2579 0.6431 0.0011 61 124.966 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
10 14 Sebastien Bourdais 1:06.3578 0.7430 0.0999 61 124.778 Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises
11 10 Alex Palou 1:06.3646 0.7498 0.0068 74 124.765 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
12 15 Antonio Felix da Costa 1:06.3754 0.7606 0.0108 75 124.745 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
13 2 Josef Newgarden 1:06.4103 0.7955 0.0349 59 124.679 Chevy Team Penske
14 26 James Hinchcliffe 1:06.4412 0.8264 0.0309 64 124.621 Honda Andretti Autosport
15 7 Felix Rosenqvist 1:06.5011 0.8863 0.0599 53 124.509 Chevy Arrow McLaren SP
16 12 Will Power 1:06.6195 1.0047 0.1184 62 124.288 Chevy Team Penske
17 22 Simon Pagenaud 1:06.6347 1.0199 0.0152 61 124.260 Chevy Team Penske
18 4 Dalton Kellett 1:06.6471 1.0323 0.0124 70 124.236 Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises
19 3 Scott McLaughlin 1:06.9409 1.3261 0.2938 73 123.691 Chevy Team Penske
20 98 Marco Andretti 1:07.0890 1.4742 0.1481 64 123.418 Honda Andretti Herta with Marco & Curb-Agajanian
21 48 Jimmie Johnson 1:08.3984 2.7836 1.3094 100 121.055 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing