Team Penske’s Will Power was in high spirits after completing his final run in the No. 12 Chevy Indy car for 2018. A busy day spent on Sebring’s short course saw all three Penske drivers in action as Power, Josef Newgarden, and Simon Pagenaud shared the Florida road course with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports newcomer Marcus Ericsson.

The quick one-day outing was, in the defending Indy 500 winner’s view, incredibly valuable for its efforts to reclaim the IndyCar crown from Chip Ganassi Racing.

“It was like riding a bike, getting straight back into it, and I did a LOT of laps; I hardly got out of the car all day,” Power told RACER. “Feeling real sore today, but it was a really productive day. It’s probably the most productive day we’ve had at Sebring in my career.”

Reconnecting with all the members of the Penske IndyCar organization was another benefit to come from the test.

“It’s good to just get your system back into action and the cycle of thinking about what makes the car better,” he continued. “It’s also fun that you just get to get together with your teammates and engineers the night before — just connecting again.”

Power and his teammates will start the waiting game once more as they look to the new year for more testing opportunities.

“It’s two months until we drive again, and we’ll do some simulator time in between, but it gives us time to train and get some serious fitness in motion, but I’d rather be driving,” he said.

He’ll also need to wait until a future test to welcome Ericsson to the series.

“I did not, actually, get to say hello,” he added. “We got started early because we thought it was going to rain and then we kept going. I saw some of his lap times in the morning and he looked to be in good shape. It had to be a shock to the system, but from some of what I read, he enjoyed himself, which is good.”