INDIANAPOLIS – Leave it to Team Penske to find an innovative way to use the Chevrolet Aero Kit in Fast Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Team Penske driver Will Power used an asymmetrical Aero Kit configuration in Friday’s round of practice that had the right side of the car with the optional “Tire Ramp” cover that formed a symmetrical and streamlined plane from the sidepod to the rear wheel cover. The left side of the Chevrolet, however, was without the part as the team tried to achieve aero balance in a creative and innovative way.
“We have all these different options and we want to see what the difference in the balance of the car is and the downforce,” said team owner Roger Penske, who has won a record 15 Indy 500s as a team owner. “Today is the day to test and we will see where we go tomorrow. It’s gathering information, we’ll see what we have tonight and decide tomorrow.
“The great thing about it right now is we can look at all different options. I think Saturday you will see the cars all different and that will be the difference for the fast lap.”
Penske indicated three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves went straight up with a basic Aero Kit and was able to have the best four-lap qualification simulation average on Friday afternoon.
Team Penske driver Simon Pagenaud also went with a basic Aero Kit configuration and was the fastest driver on Fast Friday when each team was able to get an additional 50 horsepower by increasing boost in the turbocharger of the engine. Pagenaud’s fast lap was 230.698 miles per hour in a Chevrolet followed by three-time Verizon IndyCar Series champion and 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner Scott Dixon’s lap at 230.655 mph in a Chevrolet.
“We tried different things and that is the advantage that Team Penske will work together,” Pagenaud said. “We tried different configurations. It was an interesting day. We got a lot of information for the engineers. It will be an interesting day on Saturday. The temperature seems to play a big effect on the Aero Kit this year. We tried different configurations on all four cars and that gives us options to decide.”
Pagenaud believes Dixon and Castroneves are potential pole candidates heading into Saturday.
Team Penske team manager Kyle Moyer is Pagenaud’s race strategist and believes there are plenty of options to choose.
Will Power's Team Penske Chevrolet seen with asymmetric sidepods on pit road during Fast Friday.
“We are just playing around,” Moyer said. “It all counts about being in the Fast Nine on Saturday so we can play on Sunday. That is why we have a four-car team so we can try different things and see who is best and come out again on Saturday. The resources here are really good. There are some resources here that told us that might be a good way to go.
“There are some smart people on this team.”
With the mixed Aero Kit, Power had the fifth fastest lap on Friday at 230.206 mph, also in a Chevrolet.
“The split package, we are just trying things amongst the team but I’m not sure it’s going to work,” Power said. “I don’t think it is good enough in hot temperatures. We had to try it and see what it is like because with the full sidepods it wasn’t possible in this temperature and even with half-sidepods it wasn’t as fast as I would like. We’ll have to look at it overnight. We have plenty of data to try with both cars. You have to try stuff.”
“Like I said last Saturday, it has to work for you. The wind has to be right and the temperature has to be right and it has to be your turn. There are plenty of good cars out there and I would love to have a shot at the pole. My teammates and the Chip Ganassi guys will be very strong. A couple of the Honda drivers look pretty good, too.”
Power engineer David Faustino believes all the parts on the superspeedway Aero Kit offers a myriad of variations the cars can have heading into Saturday’s opening day of qualifications, culminating with the 33-car starting lineup positions being set on Sunday with the run for the pole for the 99th Indianapolis 500.
“Chevy gave us a lot of parts to play with and we are trying to figure out the best variation,” Faustino said. “We are pleased that we have options. At this place it goes from being easy to being really difficult very quickly. On Thursday the track conditions were easy and today the conditions were very difficult. We looked at everything before we got here so what we tried today we thought about a long time ago. We are trying to achieve that perfect balance between drag and downforce. You can’t drive the car here at those speeds without a certain amount of downforce. It was hard to put four good laps together here.”
After the Chevrolet IndyCar driven by three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves went airborne on Wednesday, and another Chevy driven by Josef Newgarden launched off the ground on Thursday, the whicker that runs the length of the nose on the Chevrolet Aero Kit was removed and it seemed to have a positive impact. No cars were involved in any incidents on the track during Fast Friday — a full six hours of practice heading into this weekend’s qualifications.
Tony Kanaan, the 2013 Indy 500 winner, was third fast on Friday at 230.457 mph in a Chevrolet and Honda driver Marco Andretti was fourth quick at 230.312 mph.
Team Penske president Tim Cindric believed the team needed to take a couple of different paths and that was achieved on Friday.
“We will get multiple chances but the weather forecast may mean multiple raindrops so we may only get one shot at it on Saturday,” Cindric said.
Saturday’s action will determine who makes the Fast Nine that will fight it out for the pole on Sunday and also the cars that will former Rows 4-10. Those cars will be locked into the field. After that, Row 11 will be determined, as right now four cars will battle it out for the final three positions. All qualification attempts will be four-lap averages.
Drivers earn season championship points based on their provisional qualifying position. The fastest qualifier gets 33 points, the second fastest 32, and so on, down to one point for the 33rd fastest. It also determines the pit selection for the May 24 Indy 500 and that can be important strategically.
Sunday’s activity includes Group One from 10:15 a.m. to 12:15 a.m. that will determine the order of positions 10-30. Group Two is from 12:45-1:30 p.m. and that determines positions 31-33.
The Fast Nine Shootout is from 2-2:45 p.m. as each of the nine fastest cars make one four-lap attempt, based on slowest to fastest. The car with the fastest four-lap average in that group wins the pole with more championship points awarded — nine to the pole winner, eight to second all the way to one point for ninth fastest.
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