Among the two Britons, Foster, the reigning Indy NXT champion, set an unofficial best time of 1:10.198 in the Honda #45 from RLL, doing so on the 85th of 89 laps. Sowery was the most active, compensating for the overcrowded November test at The Thermal Club, where issues with the car kept the NXT race winner in the paddock for most of the visit. Here, Sowery completed 130 laps, recording his best time of 1:10.409 on the 104th lap.
“Obviously, at Thermal, we couldn't test many things, so this test was aimed at completing everything we had planned there, and judging by the number of laps, we caught up,” said Sowery. “It was a serious test for us, and we didn't come here specifically to chase pace. As you know, you can quite often be chasing your tail when it comes to that, and the track was a mile away from what it should be in terms of race weekend pace. So we marked a lot of points, spent a lot of time in the car, completed many laps, but it was all productive, and I think we learned a lot.”
Sowery made three starts for Dale Coyne Racing in Mid-Ohio, Toronto, and Portland, finishing 13th, which corresponds to the best result for DCR in 2024. The 28-year-old Brit hopes to find enough funding to return to the team on a full-time basis.
“Opportunities don't come often in IndyCar, so we will take any chance we get, so when Dale approached us with the offer to conduct tests, we obviously couldn't say 'no,'” Sowery said. “We are utilizing every opportunity we get. And, obviously, the relationship between me and the team is very strong and growing at a good stable pace. There are two sides to this sport: driving and business. There is still a lot to do behind the scenes to make this a full-time job, and I am grateful for the opportunity that Dale has given us to start my career path in IndyCar. These tests are very valuable both for the teams that get such opportunities and for drivers with less time in place. So for me, it was fantastic, no pressure, and we continue to work on making this a regular thing.”