Say hello to the IR28, IndyCar’s first all-new racer in more than a decade and a half. The American open-wheel series showed off these renderings here on Tuesday, which, unless things change too much over the next 18 months, is what we should see on track in the first race of the 2028 season.
The IR28 replaces the original DW12 (named in honor of the late Dan Wheldon), although in its current version, the chassis is known as the IR18. The platform continues to be built by Italian chassis-maker Dallara, which has a massive engineering and testing facility in Indianapolis (besides Italy, of course). It will have its own version of the 2.4-liter hybrid V6 engine from Honda and Chevrolet, and hopefully another version from a third manufacturer we don’t know about yet.
As we covered in May, while IndyCar is in charge of the entire engineering project with Dallara, both engine suppliers are working closely with them to ensure that their wants and needs for both cars are taken into account. And Rule.
Like the chassis and engine, the hybrid system in the new Indy cars will also be completely new. A more conventional battery-hybrid system would replace the current supercapacitor system, providing “about 14 times” the battery capacity of the current system. The hybrid system alone is shedding 20 pounds of weight compared to the system currently in use, while the next-generation Xtrac transmission promises to be 25 pounds lighter than the current one. IndyCar claims the car is 100 pounds lighter, though it’s unclear if this is just from the chassis side and other lightweight components mentioned above, or if the entire package weighs 100 pounds less than the existing car.
The IR28 is the first chassis to be built from the ground up to accommodate IndyCar’s aeroscreen, as the current chassis was simply fitted with it after it had been in use for years. This allows the overall look of the car to be more streamlined and harmonious, as everything has been proportioned as a package rather than as separate components.
The rendering you see here features a superspeedway wing, although overall, the car’s aero package is designed to eliminate dirty air to promote passing, whether on a road course, street circuit or superspeedway. It’s notable that no stats or figures were released with these renderings, though it’s possible IndyCar could share some performance targets in the coming months. It would be great to know the percentage of downforce improvement or lap time target estimates.
The suspension setup in the IR28 is called the custom AXIS Inertance Control suspension system and will give teams more freedom and modularity when it comes to suspension setup. Similarly, a screen will appear on the side of the car next to the AeroScreen, and display the position of the car during a given race, similar to how it works in IMSA and other series.
This is the first big step in a long journey to bring the newest and most advanced race car ever seen in the series. IndyCar will test the first prototype this weekend, so stay tuned for more IR28 coverage. What do you think so far?
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