Pigot relishes Chevy 2018 IndyCar testing role

Ed Carpenter Racing's Spencer Pigot was a welcome addition to Chevy's first day of manufacturer testing with the 2018 universal aero kit.

Running at Road America alongside Team Penske's Simon Pagenaud and Will Power, the 2015 Indy Lights champion, who was promoted to a new full-time role in the No. 21 ECR Chevy, was thankful for the extra mileage and learning opportunities offered by the Bowtie.

"It's new for me, having this much pre-season testing, especially with the new universal kit, and on the engineering side to get to work with Chevy," Pigot told RACER. "And it's great for me as a driver to get a feel for all of the changes and help where we need to direct our focus.

"Over the last handful of years of my career, I've seen these guys like Pagenaud and Power developing the DW12, and again with the new aero kit era that just ended, and I always thought how cool it would be to be invited to be part of it. Just getting the first taste of it, it's so cool to be part of the process."

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As ECR's only driver scheduled to run the entire season, Pigot says he welcomes the added expectations that come from testing and developing the 2018 package and working with the team's engineers to find an edge.

"I do like the pressure," he added. "Right now, I'm the only guy on the road courses for us and everything's being developed around what I like; it's the only info we have, which is coming from the tests I'm doing and it's a privilege. It wasn't what I was expecting in my first full season, having the engineers relying on my input, and I don't want to let them or Chevy down."

Pigot got to sample the 2018 road course bodywork late last month on the Sebring short course, but its lack of high-speed corners did little to reveal the universal kit's reduction in handling potential. As the sweeping Road America circuit, the Floridian says the loss of downforce was more than noticeable and a pleasant surprise.

"I'll tell you, I liked it at Sebring, but I really liked it at Road America," he enthused. "It made some corners real corners – you have to work the car more and can't go flat, and then you feel the hard acceleration coming out of some corners a lot more because the apex speed is lower. And the speeds at the ends of the straights were pretty serious. It was a lot different, but also a lot of fun."