LAGUNA SECA

WEATHERTECH RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA HOSTS INDYCAR SPRING TRAINING FEBRUARY 8 FOR TEAM AND DRIVER TESTING.

MONTEREY, Calif. – Monterey County’s WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca will host the inaugural INDYCAR Spring Training Friday, February 8 for drivers and teams ahead of the 2019 season. This is the first time these open-wheel cars have returned to their spiritual road racing home in 15 years, and the INDYCAR Spring Training provides teams with a valuable opportunity to be reacquainted with the challenging 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course, many of whom will drive it for the first time.

The final race of the past several INDYCAR seasons has determined the championship outcome, and this special on-track testing will provide teams and drivers with vital data gathering information in their INDYCAR championship quests since all roads in the 2019 INDYCAR season ends at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca September 20-22.

“Laguna Seca is such a cool place and I’m really excited that the INDYCAR Series is headed there in 2019,” said Simon Pagenaud of Team Penske. “With the test in February, we have a lot of work to do to get our car in the right place since it is a totally new place for our team, but it’s an exciting challenge we are ready for. I feel like I have a bit of an advantage over the competition having competed and won there in the American Le Mans Series. It’s such a fun California track and I know there’s a lot of buzz around that race as it will serve is the finale race next season. There’s just a lot to be looking forward to there and that all starts with our winter test.”

Among the teams initially confirmed are Team Penske, Andretti Autosport, Chip Ganassi Racing, Ed Carpenter Racing, and Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan who will visit Monterey prior to open testing the following week at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Fans can expect to see drivers such as Pagenaud, current INDYCAR Champion Scott Dixon, Alexander Rossi, Will Power, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Josef Newgarden. Another driver who could attend is former Formula 1 driver Marcus Ericsson, who will be making his INDYCAR debut in 2019.