Jean Alesi makes Indianapolis debut on first rookie orientation day

The ex-Formula 1 driver and Lotus ambassador completed 18 laps of the speedway, and said he was pleased to get his first taste of oval driving under his belt. Alesi will have to complete his ROP on Friday.

"There's a first time for everything," said Alesi. "It's a big day and I'm very happy to be in Indianapolis on this great racetrack with Lotus.

"I will rest better now. You have a tension when you go out of the pit, but as soon as you change gears and go up with the speed you feel in your world.

"I've been in motorsports for a long time but haven't driven on an oval, so I've very happy to have accomplished this part."

Fellow grand prix veteran Rubens Barrichello (KV Racing Technology) was one of six drivers who passed the ROP, along with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing duo Josef Newgarden and Bryan Clauson, Dale Coyne's James Jakes - who did not qualify in 2011 - Schmidt Hamilton's Simon Pagenaud and returnee Michel Jourdain Jr of Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Foyt driver Wade Cunningham began the ROP but must also finish it on Friday.

Jourdain's last experience of Indianapolis came in the Indy Racing League's inaugural season in 1996, but the Mexican ex-Champ Car frontrunner said it still felt familiar.

"It was fantastic," he said. "I was thinking in the car when I was doing the laps 'This is so much fun.' I'm not going to say that it feels like yesterday that I was here, but it doesn't feel like 16 years ago."