McLaughlin, Newgarden to test Penske Porsche at Sebring

NTT IndyCar Series drivers Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden will test the Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s in next week’s IMSA-sanctioned test at Sebring International Raceway. 37 cars will attend the test from Tuesday to Thursday, Feb. 11-13.

Fresh off his run with Trackhouse by TF Sport at Daytona, McLaughlin will drive the No. 6 Penske Porsche for the first time in an IMSA sanctioned test. His Penske IndyCar teammate Newgarden will be back aboard the No. 7 Porsche for the first time since he joined the winning team at the 2024 Rolex 24 At Daytona. The two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and IndyCar Series champion also raced at the 2023 Petit Le Mans in a Porsche Penske Motorsport GTP car, but only drove short stints in either race versus the full-time Porsche factory drivers.

The new Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH will also be testing ahead of its IMSA debut at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring next month. Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis were already announced as the full-time drivers of the No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie, and they’ll be joined at the Sebring test by Alex Riberas, who has a full-time ride in one of the FIA WEC Aston Martins.

JDC-Miller MotorSports will also give 29-year-old English driver Sennan Fielding his first test in a Porsche 963. Fielding won the 2022 British GT Championship GT4 title and has spent the last two years driving LMP3s in the Michelin Le Mans Cup, for Steller Motorsport.

Ten GTP cars are entered, with the absence of the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R due to accident damage sustained at Daytona, and the No. 63 Lamborghini Squadra Corse SC63.

In LMP2, Honda factory driver Kaku Ohta will test the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA 07. Ohta tested with Era Motorsport in preparation for his GTP debut with Acura Meyer Shank Racing, and is expected to add select LMP2 races to his busy 2025 schedule.

After making his VP Racing SportsCar Challenge debut at Daytona, Matias Perez Companc will test the No. 88 AF Corse ORECA alongside his father Luis.

Jonny Edgar will test both AO Racing’s “Spike” and “Rexy” cars, turning laps in the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R in GTD PRO as well as the No. 99 ORECA LMP2.

Provisionally, Ben Barker is expected to return to the cockpit of the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3, after a collarbone injury sidelined him from Daytona.

GT classes will run on Tuesday, then all four classes will run on Wednesday before closing with prototype-only tests on Thursday.