Lotus Hits The Track Running

[Mark H]

A Chevrolet engine development session in late October at Sebring International Raceway made an impression on Ryan Hunter-Reay.

“There’s not many times in your career when you have the opportunity to drive the car, come back into pit lane and there’s 30 engineers listening to your every word,” he said. “It was a unique experience and I really enjoyed it. It’s an honor and a privilege to test with Chevrolet and Ilmor and working with the Chevy program.”

The Andretti Autosport driver returns to the Chevrolet car to kick off 2012 on-track development Jan. 13-14 at Palm Beach International Raceway.

“I’m ready to get on with the team testing side of it,” added Hunter-Reay, who enters his third season with Andretti Autosport. “It’s an exciting time in INDYCAR to be able to develop these cars and engines, and now the manufacturer competition that we have really makes it than much more interesting and competitive.”

Lotus made its on-track debut Jan. 12 with six installation laps at Palm Beach International with Simona de Silvestro behind the wheel.

"Shakedown went according to plan," she said. "Good to be back in the car."

De Silvestro, who is entering her third season with HVM Racing, will continue to pile on laps Jan. 13-14 at Palm Beach before moving to Sebring International on Jan. 16-17. Hunter-Reay will hand off the Chevy car to teammate Marco Andretti for the Sebring days.

“I can’t wait to get back into the car,” Andretti said. “It feels like forever since I’ve driven. I’m looking forward to tuning on the new car and making big gains with a lot of different changes.”

Also scheduled to hit the track Jan. 16 are Helio Castroneves and Will Power of Team Penske, JR Hildebrand of Panther Racing, Simon Pagenaud of Sam Schmidt Motorsports, Tony Kanaan of KV Racing Technology, and Scott Dixon of Target Chip Ganassi Racing. Graham Rahal of Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing will take over the steering wheel from Dixon on Jan. 17, while the other drivers will get a second day on the short course.

“To get that experience to be truly working with a manufacturer in Chevrolet is exciting,” said Hildebrand, the 2011 Indianapolis 500 runner-up. “It will be good to just get back in the car and get to work. We’re anxiously waiting to see what the next steps will be with the car, but at the same just excited to get back on the track.”

The IZOD IndyCar Series-opening Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is March 25.

 

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