Felix Rosenqvist, McLaren, Indianapolis, 2023

Pictures: 2023 Indianapolis 500 testing begins

IndyCar

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The first day of testing for the 2023 Indianapolis 500 took place yesterday. All bar one of the 34 drivers who will compete for a place on a 33-strong grid were in action.

Among those joining the regular drivers in the field were past winners Tony Kanaan and Ryan Hunter-Reay. Katherine Legge, the only woman participating this year, is making her first attempt to qualify for the race in a decade, with RLL.

RC Enerson, who made a single unsuccessful attempt to qualify for the race two years ago, will return for another crack at the race, but his sole entry for the Abel Motorsports team was not present at testing yesterday.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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9 comments on “Pictures: 2023 Indianapolis 500 testing begins”

  1. I wonder what those black stripes that go along the whole length of the car on sides of Rosenquist’s car are. They don’t seem like aerodynamic devices.

    1. Looks like a paint stripe to break up large areas of white and orange…..

      1. No no. I’m talking about the black rails attached to the nose, sidepods and real wheel covers.

        1. They are aerodynamic strakes new for this year, to help keep the cars from taking off when spinning / sliding sideways.
          See here: https://racer.com/2023/04/20/indy-500-aero-changes-debut-at-open-test/

    2. All the cars have them. Some are painted so they are less noticeable. Prevents flight if they get sideways at 230 mph.

    3. Yeah, it is an aero part for improved safety. Check the explanation in this video from Alex Rossi’s engineer:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-5u3qinkn4

  2. I’m loving Newgarden’s look.
    It looks like Paro will be all but totally camouflaged with the track surface!

    1. O’ward will be running a Papaya Orange livery, the black one is Rossi’s.

    2. Yeah, Newgarden’s car is very cool! Kanaan’s looks good too.

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