FORT WORTH – Drivers from the Verizon IndyCar Series will be participating in a test session on Wednesday at the newly repaved and re-profiled Texas Motor Speedway.

Will Power and Sebastien Bourdais wheel-to-wheel on course during practice for last year’s Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway — Photo by: Chris Owens

Twenty-two drivers will take part in a one-day test session that begins Wednesday morning and continues through the early evening, TMS officials said Monday.

The drivers participating include Team Penske drivers Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Josef Newgarden and Helio Castroneves; Chip Gansassi Racing drivers Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Charlie Kimball and Max Chilton; Andretti Autosport drivers Takuma Sato, Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay; Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Graham Rahal; Schmidt Peterson Motorsports drivers James Hinchcliffe and Mikhail Aleshin; Ed Carpenter Racing drivers Ed Carpenter and JR Hildebrand; A.J. Foyt Racing drivers Conor Daly and Carlos Munoz; Dale Coyne Racing drivers Sebastien Bourdais and Ed Jones; Andretti Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian driver Alexander Rossi; and Harding Racing driver Gabby Chaves.

The test session is being held to prepare for the upcoming Rainguard Water Sealers 600 Verizon IndyCar Series race on Saturday, June 10, as well as the start of the 2017 season.

The test session is also important to the Verizon IndyCar Series teams since it will be the first time racing on Texas Motor Speedway’s newly repaved and re-profiled 1.5-mile surface.  In addition to the repave of the oval and pit lane, the teams will get an opportunity to see how the cars will react to the reconfigured Turns 1 and 2 where the banking was reduced from 24 to 20 degrees and the racing surface expanded from 60 to 80 feet.

The Verizon IndyCar Series will host six more events, including the Indianapolis 500, before returning to Texas Motor Speedway for the Rainguard Water Sealers 600 on Saturday, June 10.  This past weekend the IndyCar Series competed in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.  James Hinchcliffe of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports picked up his fifth career victory Sunday at Long Beach.