IndyCar begins preseason today with Thermal Club open test

Today, the NTT IndyCar Series is back!

The 2023 season starts with an open test at Thermal Club, a swanky private circuit in California. All 27 planned full time entries will be present looking to hit the track and learn as much as possible over the next two days.

I'll end each day with a short recap for your inbox and at twincheckers.ghost.io, and I'll be looking for three storylines over the next two days.

Can Arrow McLaren match Penske and Ganassi from the start?

McLaren underwent a makeover during the offseason, adding driver Alexander Rossi and restructuring its management structure following the team president Taylor Kiel's exit.

Rossi joins Felix Rosenqvist and Pato O'Ward, and all three are looking to take the team to the next level where it can consistently compete with Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing at the top of the league. We may not get definitive answers at Thermal Club, but we'll have a good idea of whether or not McLaren are a part of a big three, or rather the best of the rest.

What's the state of Andretti?

Team boss Michael Andretti would be the first to say last year was an underwhelming effort for the team bearing his name. Multiple squabbles between teammates and just two victories — one negated following post race inspection — left Andretti's team and supporters disappointed with 2022.

In the last three years, the team lost a wealth of experience with Rossi, Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe and Marco Andretti stepping back, stepping aside or being released from the team. All of a sudden, Romain Grosjean is something of a team veteran in only his second full IndyCar season.

Kyle Kirkwood and Devlin DeFrancesco join Grosjean and the über-talented Colton Herta for a refreshed Andretti effort. Can they take a step back toward the front of the field, or is this another rebuilding year in IndyCar while the team looks for a way into Formula One?

Which rookies will surprise?

Four rookies will be on track during the test. All bring vastly different skill sets, some having never driven an open wheel car. Seeing which have out-of-the-box speed could give us a favorite for 2023 rookie of the year.

The No. 11 Chip Ganassi Honda will feature New Zealand's Marcus Armstrong on road and street courses. Armstrong comes from Formula 2, where last season he won three races and finished 13th in the points standings.

Sting Ray Robb in the No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda and Benjamin Pederson in the No. 55 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet graduated from Indy NXT, where they each won a race last year. Robb finished second in the championship, and Pederson finished fifth.

Augustin Canapino is the most fascinating rookie driver in some time, in that most Americans haven't heard of him one bit. Driving for fellow Argentinian Ricardo Juncos in the new No. 78 car, Canapino spent most of his career in stock car racing in the South American country.

Canapino won the 2018 Olimpia de Oro, the Argentinian sportsman of the year, joining the likes of Lionel Messi and Juan Manuel Fangio as sporting legends in the country. I wouldn't expect Canapino to compete with the established and experienced open wheel rookies, but if he can get a handle on his No. 78 Chevy he could surprise later on this season.

The open test won't tell us definitively who's a championship favorite or which teams are in trouble, but they offer the first glimpse into one of the most anticipated IndyCar championships in some time.

You can follow along with the test at racecontrol.indycar.com.

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