The 2018 Dallara Universal Aero Kit made it’s road course debut this week as Oriol Servia and Juan Pablo Montoya continued its testing programme at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Both drivers completed more than 100-laps of the 2.258-mile circuit on Tuesday, with Servia again behind the wheel of the Honda-powered car and Montoya behind the wheel of the Chevrolet-powered car, with the former saying that next years car is likely to make drivers work harder behind the wheel than in 2017.
“It’s harder to see the driver work when you have a lot of downforce (on the current car),” said Servia. “When you have a little less (downforce) and the cars move around, at least the fans can see that we’re doing something.
“Good or bad, we are doing something. I think it’s going to be more fun for the fans and for us. It was great, honestly. I’m not just saying it because it’s what we wanted. It really was a lot better than this year’s car.
“Even at Detroit, where the speeds are a lot less, which was my last race I did (in June), you couldn’t get close to anyone even in the slow corners because there was so much downforce. Here, of course there was downforce, but it stays very balanced.
“This year’s car, the rear gets loose. And the new car, you lose a little bit of front, but not much. I was surprised. I think it’s honestly very positive. Apparently, science works.”
The two cars ran together for a number of laps, with Montoya leading Servia for five laps before they switched positions, and the Colombian feels their will be bigger chances of drivers making mistakes with the new aero kit.
“It feels pretty good; it’s very different than the current aero kit,” said Montoya. “The (new) car is a little more forgiving, but the level of downforce is a lot lighter so you slide around a lot more. That, I think, is good.
“I think you’re going to be able to see the (driver’s) hands moving a lot more on the steering wheel and I think you’re going to see the cars get out of shape a lot easier. The chances of mistakes are higher, so I think it’s going to bring better racing.”
