Yahoo Autos Malukas quick in first test outing with Meyer Shank Racing
David Malukas spent most of Tuesday’s two-hour hybrid IndyCar test session at Milwaukee with his new No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda sitting atop the speed chart. The Illinois native’s debut for the team also served as his first outing in an IndyCar for many months after injuring his left hand and wrist in a cycling accident just prior to the season-opener in March.
Cleared to drive, MSR signed Malukas to replace Tom Blomqvist for the rest of the season, and he wasted little time in making a good impression.
“The first run that we did, it was definitely working towards it,” Malukas told RACER. “But honestly, after five or six laps, I got back into my seat, I squished myself in, I got in my position, and I felt like I never left. I was ready to go. And we went on that second run, and immediately we were getting there with that second set (of tires) on. The lap time was there. So I’m really happy. I think the team’s really happy, and we’ve been making some good changes with the schedule that we’ve had so far.”
Malukas says his hand and wrist haven’t been an issue on the short oval, but the real test will come next week when the NTT IndyCar Series visits the newly-repaved road course at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
“The one thing I’ve been overthinking and going back to is how the wrist is going to do,” he said. “And honestly, on track here, there’s no problem right now. But coming into pit entry, especially with how tight it is, and obviously being an oval setup, there’s a lot of steering that I have to do. So it took me a little bit getting used to on finding a specific way, just because wrist movement is a little bit limited as of right now.
“But we still have a few weeks until Laguna. I’m going to be doing some stretches, getting some different splints created to force my hand to stretch more, just so I can have that full motion. But yeah, Laguna is going to be a real test on this hand. Going to be a little bit of a survival.”
