Road America IndyCar test nuggets from Schumacher, Siegel, Power, Rasmussen

ELKHART LAKE – More than half the field for the Father’s Day XPEL Grand Prix at Road America got a relatively rare head start for IndyCar ’s next event during a test June 9.

That meant one more stop before a break for crews after a grueling stretch in which they’ve had five straight weekends of competition. But it also gave newcomers such as Nick Schumacher nine days to sort out what they’d seen before attacking the undulating 4.014-mile course for real.

Andretti Global, Arrow McLaren and Rahal Letterman Lanigan worked with three cars and drivers apiece while A.J. Foyt Racing and Ed Carpenter fielded two apiece in preparation for the June 19-21 race weekend.

Over the lunch break, Andretti’s Will Power (a two-time winner), Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel, RLL’s Schumacher, and ECR’s Christian Rasmussen (first-time Indy NXT winner at the track in 2022) spoke with reporters.

Given Schumacher’s background in Formula One and sports cars, Road America may be the closest thing to a familiar track he will see in his rookie season. But where some drivers coming into Indy cars from that career path have put Road America up alongside classic European tracks such as Spa Francorchamps in Belgium, Schumacher hesitated.

“It’s a very unique track,” he said. “I think it would be unfair to take too much comparison to other tracks because every track is unique and very special. So is this one. It’s great to experience it.”

Schmacher came to the test with no real preconceptions of Road America.

He did get some insight into the track and town from teammates Graham Rahal, who’s been coming to Road America for decades, and Louis Foster, who won the pole in 2025 as a rookie. Then his first few laps were about learning the circuit and appreciating what it offered.