Honda is making a strong case for this year's IndyCar season. Several observers have noticed the strong performance displayed by Honda during the Barber open test. Some are even convinced that Honda is a viable contender to challenge Chevrolet's dominance in the sport, at least at some tracks.
During the IndyCar Barber single-day test, Honda-powered Chip Ganassi Racing was primed to take the fastest lap of the event. Chip Ganassi Racing's Max Chilton posted the fastest lap early that day. That is until Team Penske's Will Power managed to snatch pole position on its final lap.
As @jpmontoya stepped out of the No. 22, he took off his helmet, smiled and shrugged as if to say, “Eh, no big deal” https://t.co/14W8tIS31q
— IndyCar Series (@IndyCar) March 22, 2017
The Chevrolet-powered Dallara DW12 driven by the Australian managed to take back the top spot held earlier by his teammate Josef Newgarden. Team Penske posted the fastest lap with an official time of 1 minute and 7.7518 seconds beating out Chip Ganassi Racing by the narrow margin of +0.0073 seconds, according to Indy Car.
While this might disappoint Honda fans, observers said that this narrow margin simply shows that Honda is slowly keeping pace with Chevrolet's dominance on the track. This year's IndyCar season will be a close fight between the two engine titans.
In a statement acquired by Racer, Team Penske's driver Will Power said, "It just shows how tight it is between Honda and Chevy now. It's tough, man. We went through a bunch of stuff to see what it does and I think we got some good answers here."
With Power and Chilton taking the top two spots, respectively, Newgarden took the third position while returning veteran Juan Pablo Montoya impressed observers by taking the fourth spot. Overall, six Honda cars were able to take a position in the top 10, while Chevrolet took four spots. The next leg of the test sessions will be at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on March 25.
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