PHOENIX -- The 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series season rolls off in less than two weeks, and the field got things off to a sizzling start with a two-day open test at Phoenix International Raceway over the weekend.
The Desert Mile staged 65 Indy car races since the track opened in 1964, but the last was more than a decade ago. The IndyCar Series' return -- even for a test -- to a strong traditional market was greeted warmly, as an estimated 3,000 fans turned out as part of a free promotion to enjoy Saturday's activity on a perfect sunny day.
Although teams have occasionally used PIR as a private test venue since the last Indy car race in 2005, this marked the first time since then that the series appeared en masse. They'll be back April 2 for a 250-miler, set to run under the lights for the first time.
It's a good thing they're extending the race distance, because at the speeds modern Indy cars are running it would take them barely an hour to run 200 miles, excluding cautions. All 21 participating drivers in the open test bested Arie Luyendyk's 1996 track record of 183.599 mph, with seven topping 190 mph. The track was reconfigured in 2011, making Luyendyk's record not an exact comparison.
Team Penske led the way, as Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud ran 1-2, paced by Castroneves' 19.2735 second/190.894 mph effort.
How fast is that? Jimmie Johnson's NASCAR track record (25.147 sec/143.158 mph) is nearly six seconds and 50 mph slower.
"It's going to be fast and non-stop," Castroneves said. "The Phoenix fans are going to have a heck of a race."
While there is no doubt the speeds will be high, there is definitely some debate about the potential quality of the racing.
Even before PIR was profiled a few years ago, with Turn 2 banked and widened in an effort to make the track more favorable for stock cars, Indy car races at Phoenix were often processional affairs.
Bobby Rahal led all 200 laps at PIR in 1992 in one of the most dominant performances in Indy car racing history.
Rahal's contemporary rival (and now fellow team owner) Michael Andretti believes IndyCar needs to add downforce for the race to increase the possibility of passing.
But many of the current drivers, including the past three series champions, think the series needs to go the opposite way and remove downforce.
"I think when we get here for the race it's going to be pretty tough," said four-time champion Scott Dixon of Ganassi Racing. "Is it going to be hard to pass? Yes, but it's going to be possible.
"Unfortunately, with the speeds and the loads in the corners we're generating, you need a very hard tire," he continued. "It's too late in the game to take a bunch of downforce off because you'd have to go to a softer tire.
"The problem with more downforce is it gets too easy, especially for the first 20 or 30 laps," he added. "You end up running with people that you maybe really don't want to be running with, and you start taking chances. It would be a mini pack race, I think, and you don't want that around this place."
2012 IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay believes that having cars on different pit strategies and various states of tire wear will create a competitive and entertaining race.
"This place is just like Iowa a couple years ago, when everybody in practice couldn't pass," recalled RHR. "You have to get beyond Lap 20 to really start mixing it up. That's when the tires start to fall off a bit, that's when the handling characteristics of each different car is magnified, and that's when the difference is going to be made.
"When we hit traffic and start seeing different strategies, that's when the racing is really going to get hot around here."
The Phoenix test marked the first public appearance of the 2016-specification aero kits from engine manufacturers Honda and Chevrolet. Because Chevrolet dominated the first year of aero competition, Honda was granted special dispensation to make additional changes to its bodywork this year beyond what is permitted in the regulations.
At first glance, it appears that Honda copied Chevrolet's front wing endplates and sidepods, while Chevrolet's rear wheel pods look a lot like Honda's 2015 model.
The only real point of differentiation between the two bodies now is the profile of the airbox.
Chevy entries ran 1-4 and posted eight of the top 10 speeds at Phoenix. Fifth-place Marco Andretti (19.335 sec/190.286 mph) was the quickest Honda.
Josef Newgarden and Ed Carpenter ran third and fourth for Chevrolet.
"It seems like we have a little ground to make up still, but I think that Honda has put a lot of work into the offseason and they've worked very hard to make sure that we've closed the gap," said Honda driver Graham Rahal, who was 11th fastest at 189.170 mph.
"Seeing some of our competitors at times makes me a little nervous, but I think if we can qualify close and kind of outrace them like last year, we'll be in a pretty good spot."
Jack Hawksworth of A.J. Foyt Racing was the only driver to crash during the course of 12 hours of testing; his teammate Takuma Sato also brushed the wall and incurred minor damage.
Team Penske's Will Power blew a Chevrolet engine in smoky fashion, while teammate Castroneves also required an engine change despite setting the fast time of the test.
Despite a field reduced to 21 or 22 cars for most race weekends, the IndyCar Series generally looks to be on the most solid footing to start the season that it has enjoyed for several years. The action starts for real March 13 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (12:30 p.m. ET, ABC).