,
Keeping up with terrible human analogies, if Hawksworth’s car had no pants on, it seem here are these panels would be the underwear (complete with skidmarks). This is the floor of Scott Dixon’s car. The tunnels are surprisingly short (compare them to some of the other car’s we’ve featured on MotoIQ). This short length is mandated by IndyCar rules. You can now see why Honda and Chevy are both eager to increase the length of the tunnels in any way they can.
So far we’ve seen these cars sitting in the pits, so it’s about time we get them on the track where they belong. While the whole of Team Penske waits for the afternoon session to open, let’s run off to Turn 4 and see how the cars look at speed.
Simon Pagenaud stretches the legs of his Penske prepared Chevy. He would finish the day's testing 5th quickest.
Josef Newgarden won the last round at Barber Motorsports Park, his first ever IndyCar Series win. A Tennessee native, his Chevy car is owned by former Indycar drivers Ed Carpenter and Sarah Fisher. Ed himself will be racing the 20 car in this year’s 500. He has sat on the pole for the last two years. Despite being out of the car since Fontana in 2014, Ed was 8th overall at the end of the day’s sessions. A graduate of USAC Sprint cars and the IRL, Ed only runs the ovals these days where he is more at home.
Graham Rahal, driving for his father, has seen a resurgence in form this year. He has been carrying the Honda flag, fighting amongst the much quicker Chevys. He finished 2nd at Barber, passing cars on the outside of the notoriously tight Barber turns. However his 500 car is still getting up to speed and he was outside the top 10 at the end of practice. Marco Andretti would be the highest placing Honda with the 3rd quickest time of the day. Honda has been struggling on the road courses and have said their focus was always Indy. Perhaps they will be able to claw back some ground on the Chevys at the Brickyard.
The fastest lap of the day would belong to Juan Pablo Montoya at 226.772 mph. After spending the better part of a decade in tin top NASCARs, Juan is back in open wheel where he belongs. Since returning in 2014, he has won two races and currently leads the IndyCar series points. It may have been 16 years since he won his CART championship and 15 since he won the Indy 500, but he is proving he still has the talent and fire to continue adding to those tallies. His Penske teammate Helio Castroneves will not be making it easy though. Helio barely missed out on making history as the fourth 4-time winner of the 500 in 2014 and he is hungrier than ever. Helio will start his 300th IndyCar race at the Angie’s List GP of Indianapolis on May 9th, making him one of the most seasoned veterans on the grid.After looking at the two designs, it is very clear Honda and Chevrolet have taken very different approaches. Honda seems to have taken the known Dallara kit and optimized it, adjusting and tweaking where they saw fit. Chevrolet has taken the Dallara kit and thrown it out the window. The Chevy kit seems to be low drag which will lead to massive qualifying speeds. However the race will be a different story and this low downforce may become a problem in traffic. Mechanical attrition is at an all-time low; in 2015 not a single Chevy or Honda engine has failed. Traffic will certainly be an issue in the 500. Honda’s more complex kit will probably be better in traffic, though that may put them further down the grid when it comes to Pole day. Watching the cars, it seemed the Hondas were able to pull away from the Chevy’s through the corners. However this was a test session, so the drivers were taking it easy, gathering data and making sure they didn’t stuff their cars because of a stupid mistake.
Will Chevrolet take another pole, or will Honda upset the Bowtie brigade? Will Helio Castroneves finally capture his 4th 500 ring and join the likes of AJ Foyt, Rick Mears, and Al Unser? Will Ed Carpenter finally drink the milk of his step father’s track? Or maybe Marco Andretti will finally break the curse that has plagued his family for 46 years. Qualifying is May 16th and 17th, but before that is the Angie’s List Grand prix of Indianapolis. MotoIQ will be covering the entire month of May. Stay tuned for more IndyCar news!
