The first round of the 2024 IndyCar season was held over the weekend, allowing the paddock to assess what the competition had been working on during the offseason.
For Chevrolet, the offseason work proved to be a significant improvement in the drivability and performance of their 2.2-liter engines.
As early as Friday, there was talk in the paddock that all of the Chevy-powered cars had improved significantly since the previous race.
The gains were not necessary in raw horsepower, since the present engine formula is rather mature and there is nothing more to extract in that area – but more intricate features, such as smooth power application and throttle reaction times, appeared to be substantially improved.
Those improvements led in a spectacular performance on Sunday, with Josef Newgarden winning comfortably and Chevrolet-powered drivers finishing 1-2-3-4.
“I’ve got to say, Chevrolet, they work hard every off-season,” Newgarden remarked following his win. “But they worked extremely hard this offseason.
“We were harsh on ourselves. It’s not only them. We had to really enhance our [Team Penske] side and chassis, and we were demanding on them as well. We said, ‘We’ve got to improve all of these things,’ and they delivered.
“You rarely give someone – you ask for the menu, and you don’t get the complete menu, but they seemed to give us the entire menu. It’s quite cool. They did an excellent job, and I am quite encouraged about 2024.”
Those improvements led in a spectacular performance on Sunday, with Josef Newgarden winning comfortably and Chevrolet-powered drivers finishing 1-2-3-4.
“I’ve got to say, Chevrolet, they work hard every off-season,” Newgarden remarked following his win. “But they worked extremely hard this offseason.
“We were harsh on ourselves. It’s not only them. We had to really enhance our [Team Penske] side and chassis, and we were demanding on them as well. We said, ‘We’ve got to improve all of these things,’ and they delivered.
“You rarely give someone – you ask for the menu, and you don’t get the complete menu, but they seemed to give us the entire menu. It’s quite cool. They did an excellent job, and I am quite encouraged about 2024.”
