Dallara will tweak the design of its IndyCar DW12's wheel guards in an effort to reduce drag at speedway races.
The Italian manufacturer is developing more aero-efficient rear wheel guards to improve performance on the bigger, high-speed, oval tracks. The original rear wheel guards will be used at all other tracks.
The new components, which are taller, lighter and have a slightly different shape, have been tested in the wind tunnel at the Auto Research Center in North Carolina in conjunction with IndyCar.
"We went there not just trying to answer the questions that we had but trying to get one step ahead," said IndyCar vp of technology Will Phillips. "We ran those full-scale components and they were very promising."
He added: "Dallara worked hard to make sure it wouldn't vibrate and tested it on a rig. We have to run it on the track to make sure it performs as expected.
"We're working to see when we could get some production prototypes, and if we're able to have them for the Texas open test [next month], we might ask a few teams to test them for us."