After six rounds of racing, it’s clear Chevrolet has the advantage over Honda in this year’s IndyCar championship. Cars using Chevy’s Ilmor 2.2-liter twin-turbo V6 and Chevy designed aero kits have won five of six races so far this year, with Honda’s only victory coming at the rainy Grand Prix of Louisisana. The automaker’s clear dominance has lead to many questions from drivers and teams, mostly those running the Honda aero and engine combo.
The Detroit Free Press recently caught up with Roger Penske as he met with sponsors, media and state and city officials ahead of the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix. Penkse is the most dominant Chevy team, having won three of the first six races, and admits even he isn’t sure why the bowtie-branded cars are so much faster this year.
“I think Honda has some great drivers, and I think they are always a chance,” Penske told The Free Press. “I think the key thing — there’s a lot of speculation: Is it the cars or the aero kits (working to Chevy’s advantage)?”
Penske is obviously happy with the way his engines and aero kits have been performing, but he said he wouldn’t be against having IndyCar take a look at both setups to see where the major advantage is.
“I think the series has the ability at some point to take the cars and put them in a wind tunnel and the engines and put them on a dyno,” Penske said. “Let’s find out where we are. That’s going to be the true test, and if there is going to be an equalization based on the rules package, they’ll have to do it.”
Penske rivers swept Belle Isle last year, with Will Power winning the first of the double header weekend’s races and Helio Castroneves winning the second. Power already has one win under his belt so far this year, however Castroneves, last year’s championship runner-up, has yet to stand atop the podium.
Comments
There’s a racer named Will Power? Kind of fitting.
Racing is ingenuity in action and the smartest people should win. This racing where everyone has to be equal has turned racing into follow the leader parades. Racing is exciting when a driver can pass 2 or 3 cars at a time with his top speed and speed is what racing should be all about. As a retired race engine builder I would not want to be held back by rules to make everyone equal as I would like to be able to show I was smarter than the next engine builder
Why doesn’t Penske do a simple swap of the aero kits between the Chevy and Honda cars, then run them against each other. I bet that the Chevy car will win again!