Roger Penske: 2018 IndyCar aerokit will prove who best drivers are

IndyCar officially launched its 2018 car in Detroit earlier this month, with the new universal aerokit that will replace Honda and Chevrolet's designs on show.

Chevrolet had a clear advantage over Honda between 2015-17 and the significant aerodynamics made overtaking harder to achieve.

In a bid to improve racing and lower costs, IndyCar's new package is a far simpler design that will reduce downforce with the aim of improving racing.

Penske believes the changes will highlight IndyCar's best drivers.

"What they've done from a competitive standpoint, and also when you look at it from the driver's standpoint, it puts the driver back in the car," he said.

"It's a whole different driving technique. It's going to be interesting to see which drivers adapt to it quickly.

"[Before] the downforce made the car easier to drive because the car was so stuck to the ground.

"Now, with the high speed and [less] downforce, getting into the corners the car will be freer and they're going to have to really be on top of it. "It's going to bring the cream to the top, for sure."

New package helps smaller teams

Penske also said the changes to the car will help entice smaller teams to compete in IndyCar.

The series has added a two-car entry from Carlin, as well as single entries from Harding Racing, Juncos Racing and Michael Shank Racing across the upcoming year.

While the outgoing manufacturer aerokit era was seen as financially prohibitive to new teams, Penske argued that would no longer be the case.

"What I like about it is we can sell our older cars and buy new ones and teams can buy a used car and go get the new aero kit and compete," he said.

"That's what's nice about it from a cost perspective. That, to me, is what we need to have in this sport.

"With the escalation of technology tying into these race cars, the cost has just gone out of sight. What they've done at IndyCar is bring these costs back.

"The aerokits are the same, we all buy it, they're supplied by one supplier, so we don't have costs that are out of sight. That, to me, is some good rational thinking that's gone into it."

Penske added adapting to the new aerokit would require his team to make only "minimal" changes.

"This kit is an evolution of the race car over a number of years," he said.

"The costs are down and today we're looking at that in racing because they've been escalating so much over the past several years.

"The changeover will be minimal for us. It's a matter of [adjusting to] the new look and the new aerokits.

"It's an evolution of the existing car, but it gives us a different product for the drivers and the teams."