2018 saw a host of changes for IndyCar, such as new teams and new tracks. Most importantly, the new UAK18 aero kit performed exceptionally well.
The 2018 IndyCar season is now in the books after Scott Dixon won his fifth career championship. While IndyCar experienced a significant amount of change, the biggest and most successful one has to be, without a doubt, the impact of the new UAK18 aero kit.
IndyCar decided to take a step forward by looking to its past when the decision was made to move away from the top-side aero-dependent cars of the previous generation. The UAK18 aero kit did away with the winglet-dependent aero package and instead gave more power back to the drivers with the chassis deriving more of its workable downforce from the undertray.
The goal of these changes was to simplify the cars and place more of the driving responsibility back on the drivers.
More from IndyCar
- IndyCar: Two teams with no drivers confirmed for 2024
- IndyCar: Chip Ganassi Racing news hints Alex Palou announcement
- IndyCar: ‘Addition by subtraction’ could pay off in a big way
- Team Penske should make a bold driver signing for 2024
- IndyCar: 5 teams that still have open seats for 2024
There were some fears that the reduction in top-side downforce would reduce the stability at oval tracks, particularly superspeedways, and hurt the ability to pass and make snap decisions to get the cars to move. These concerns were disproved wholeheartedly after the conclusion of the first season, if not after the first few races.
The first race of the season on the narrow streets of St. Petersburg, Florida featured 366 overtakes. The ability to pass was not reserved to mid-pack battles either. Over the course of the season, the lead was exchanged in every race. On average, there were approximately 8.7 lead changes per race, with the highest number of lead changes in a race being 30 in the Indianapolis 500 and the lowest being two in the race at Road America.
As far as car vs. car racing was concerned, 2018 was one of the most exciting seasons of racing that IndyCar fans have seen in some time. There was no one team that dominated the whole way. Teams such as Dale Coyne Racing and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports were solid in the road and street course races while teams such as Andretti Autosport, Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske were able to show up big for the short oval and superspeedway races.
Teams and drivers were able to learn and adapt to the capabilities of the UAK18 aero kit, which worked well with the Firestone tires without compromising the overall driving ability of the car. The UAK18 provided examples on every type of circuit that a 21st century race car can still sound good, look great and produce competitive racing.
The series is expanding its team and driver opportunities (please, Fernando Alonso…) and even placed Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California on the 2019 calendar. Though the 2018 season has just ended, I am already excited for what the 2019 season will bring with a full year of understanding the car in the books.