IndyCar postpones Texas oval test
IndyCar has postponed its planned major oval test at Texas Motor Speedway from 13 March to 7 May
The series' president of competition Beaux Barfield said the change made sense as the first four rounds of the championship took place on road and street courses.
"With our teams in the midst of preparations for the first four road/street events of the season, it is more beneficial to move the oval open test to early May," said Barfield.
"Teams won't be forced to switch to an oval set-up then back to a road course set-up the week before the season opener under this new schedule.
"Additionally this will open the door for teams to utilise this time for one last road course test before the season opener."
Dallara, builder of the new DW12 Indycar, has been making a series of changes to the car followed troubled first oval tests during the winter.
But IndyCar's vice president of technology Will Phillips said a recent test with Penske's Ryan Briscoe, KV's Tony Kanaan and Bryan Herta Autosport driver Alex Tagliani at Texas had been promising.
"We were pleased with the outcome of our first test at Texas," said Phillips. "We were able to establish a baseline and try a variety of aero packages on the new car.
"We are now analysing the data and driver feedback from the test to determine the aero package we will use for our open test."
The IndyCar season begins in St Petersburg on 25 March.
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