In the video, he’s driving unit PS1, which is one of the last of the pre-production T.50s. He starts the first lap gently, as we imagine shunting a pre-production sports car into the barriers would certainly be a faux pas. He says that over the two-year development cycle, the vehicle has seen all sorts of testing conditions, from driving on ice in freezing temperatures to driving in the desert in the scorching heat. This means even though the track was damp that day, the car was able to handle it in stride as long as you don’t get carried away with yourself.
As a four-time IndyCar Drivers’ Champion, Franchitti knows what it takes to build a winning race car, so it’s somewhat surprising when he says it is actually easier to do that than build a road car. “The development process is so much more difficult than making a racing car,” he says. “[With a racing car] is it fast; is it reliable? With a road car, there’s so many more parts to it… when you push the boundaries like Gordon has with weight and performance.”