IRL: Drivers preparing next year's Indy 500

The Indy Racing League has invited some regular drivers to test some aerodynamic adjustments that it hopes will improve the quality of racing at next year's Indianapolis 500.


Helio Castroneves (Penske), Marco Andretti (AGR), Tomas Scheckter (Dreyer & Reinbold) and Vitor Meira (Foyt Racing) ran without vertical wickers on the end fences of their cars' rear wings, and with the rain light in a different position, during testing yesterday.

The intention is to reduce the level of turbulence behind the cars, but Scheckter said the results were inconclusive without a full field to measure the Dallara-Hondas' behaviour in race-style traffic.

The Indy 500 was one of several IndyCar Series oval races criticised for being processional in the first half of the year.

Series of aerodynamic tweaks and a 'boost button,' that temporarily offered a power increase, had led to significantly more overtaking at Kentucky and Chicagoland in August.

For Vitor Meira, this test was the occasion to get back behind the wheel after sustaining two broken vertebrae in a collision with Raphael Matos during this year's Indy 500

The Brazilian is confident that he is back to full fitness after testing his car at Indianapolis yesterday.