Justin Wilson says new DW12 IndyCar a total departure from what he's used to

The former Formula 3000 champion, Formula 1 racer and Champ Car frontrunner has spent the past four years in the IndyCar Series' old Dallara, and says the behaviour of the 2012 machine is very different.

"This car drives very differently than any other car I have ever driven," he said during open testing at Sebring on Monday.

"It has a lot of downforce so if you get the balance right, you can really carry a lot of speed through the corners, but since we are so new to the car, we are still trying to figure out how the changes affect the car in every situation."

Wilson, who has returned to his 2008/9 squad Dale Coyne Racing for '12 after two seasons at Dreyer & Reinbold, said he was still some way off fully understanding the DW12.

"I think it's been a good day, we've learned a lot of things, made a lot of changes and making gains on the car," he said. "You have to remember, we are still in the very early stages with this car and there is a lot left to do in order to get where we want to be."

In contrast, last year's championship runner-up Will Power said his Penske team had reached the stage where it was fine-tuning its cars.

"I think every test is valuable, but we're at a point where we've narrowed it down to the configuration we are going to run," said Power. "It's all about finding the little details now."