MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Four NTT IndyCar Series teams and drivers participated in the first test toward implementation of hybrid assist technology Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The hybrid assist will be used with kinetic energy, but Friday’s test utilized the current push-to-pass to simulate the extra 100 horsepower that the new engine formula will produce once it is introduced in 2023.

“This is new; we’ve never done this before on an oval,” IndyCar President Jay Frye explained. “We tested at Pocono, Phoenix and Gateway before, but that was with the old push-to-pass system that we had before. This new one is much better than the one before, but we still have some things to work on.”

Drivers participating in the test session included six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion and 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing, two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden of Team Penske, 100th Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi of Andretti Autosport Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren SP.

Dixon and Rossi drove Honda-powered Indy cars while Newgarden and O’Ward represented Chevrolet.

Those drovers participated in choreographed group sessions lasting from 1-4 p.m. E.T. at IMS.

“It’s a pretty big horsepower boost with the push-to-pass,” Rossi said afterwards. “We’re going to have to look at it and see if it changed anything for the better or the worst. It was definitely different. We have that test accomplished, now we have some hard data to look at the for the future.”

IndyCar could potentially add the current push-to-pass to oval races this year, including the Indianapolis 500, in an effort to make the racing even more exciting. Currently, push-to-pass is used on the street and road courses. That determination hasn’t been made, however.

“There are always areas to improve the oval package,” Rossi said. “I think those areas are pretty clear and understood from all of us. This is attempting to be a solution to the problem. There is a long list of suggestions and solutions and this is just one of them.”

Frye said the introduction of hybrid assist will produce more than 900 horsepower. Frye said the 2.4-liter engine will have close to 100 extra horsepower out of the box so a boost of 200 horsepower may be too much, according to Frye.

“Going into 2023 with 200 more is probably a bit too much, but over a period of time we can increase the power,” Frye explained.

Dixon said it was nice to be back on the track at IMS on a cloudy, gray day.

“It’s always great to run here at the speedway with some favorable weather,” Dixon said. “We tried some options with some overtake things and planning for the hybrid option to understand what will work, what won’t work and apply it to the future years coming.”

Newgarden had no expectations entering Friday’s IndyCar test because it was for data gathering, not performance related.

“IndyCar wanted to gather some data on push-to-pass and understand that for potential engine systems in the future and engine uses and I think it went well,” Newgarden said. “We learned something things today about how things look and how they could be used in a ‘use’ scenario.”

O’Ward said the test doesn’t necessarily mean IndyCar will add push-to-pass at Indy, but it gave the series and drivers a chance to collect data with the increased speed, horsepower and boost pressure.

“We have a sense of direction where to improve things and we found something that might work, but there is still some work that needs to be done to where it is good enough to work in the races,” O’Ward said. “We want to put on a better show for the fans and I think we are heading in the right direction.”