Newgarden, Team Penske hit with penalties; Newgarden disqualified from St. Petersburg IndyCar Series race
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio
Major rules infractions committed by Team Penske have negated Josef Newgarden’s victory in INDYCAR’s season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the sanctioning body announced Wednesday morning.
Josef Newgarden. IndyCar photo.
The penalties levelled against Team Penske include disqualifications for Newgarden’s No. 2 Chevrolet and Scott McLaughlin’s No. 3 Chevrolet, as well as a 10-point penalty against Will Power’s No. 12 Chevrolet during the Florida street race conducted on Sunday, March 10.
Newgarden’s DQ has handed a belated victory to Pato O’Ward, driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Power was awarded second with Colton Herta of Andretti Global third in the No. 26 Honda. Pole-sitter Newgarden was dropped to 26th, with McLaughlin finishing 27th and last on the 1.8-mile temporary circuit.
“The integrity of the INDYCAR SERIES championship is critical to everything we do,” INDYCAR President Jay Frye said in a statement. “While the violation went undetected at St. Petersburg, INDYCAR discovered the manipulation during Sunday’s warmup in Long Beach (last Sunday) and immediately addressed it ensuring all cars were compliant for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
“Beginning with this week’s race at Barber Motorsports Park, new technical inspection procedures will be in place to deter this violation.”
Josef Newgarden. Photo by Chris Owens
Team Penske was in violation of the following “Push to Pass” parameters:
_ Rule 14.19.15. An indicator to enable Push to Pass will be sent via CAN communication from the timing and scoring beacon on board the Car to the team data logger. This signal must be passed on to the ECU unmodified and uninterrupted during all Road and Street Course Events.
_ Rule 14.19.16. Race Starts and any Race Restart that occurs before the lap prior to the white flag or prior to three minutes remaining in a timed Race Event will have the Push to Pass system disabled and will be enabled for a given Car once that Car reaches the alternate Start/Finish line.
According to the rulebook, the violation is considered a Race Procedure Penalty (9.2.2.), which includes the right to reposition the Driver/Car in the posting or results, with a disqualification (9.2.2.6.) that includes the forfeiture of points and awards.
As noted by Frye, INDYCAR discovered the Team Penske’s possible rules violation during the Sunday, April 21, warmup session preceding the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in Southern California.
An extensive review of data from the race on the Streets of St. Petersburg revealed that Team Penske manipulated the overtake system so that the No. 2, 3 and 12 cars had the ability to use Push to Pass on starts and restarts. According to the INDYCAR rulebook, use of overtake is not available during championship races until the car reaches the alternate start/finish line.
It was determined the No. 2 and the No. 3 gained a competitive advantage by using Push to Pass on restarts while the No. 12 did not. Additionally, all three entries have been fined $25,000 and will forfeit all prize money associated with the Streets of St. Petersburg race.
Team Penske is fielded by Roger Penske, owner of the NTT IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The penalties have re-shaped the series point standings. Newgarden, a two-time series champion, exited Long Beach with a 12-point lead (87-75) over Dixon, the event winner and six-time series champion from Chip Ganassi Racing. Dixon, driver of the No. 9 CGR Honda, now owns a two-point (79-77) advantage over Herta. Two-time/reigning series champion Alex Palou is third with 67 points in CGR’s No. 10 Honda, followed by O’Ward (64) and two-time series champ Power (59).
Newgarden dropped to 11th with 34 points, while McLaughlin fell to 29th with five points.
Members may contest the imposition of the penalties detailed in the review and appeal procedures of the NTT IndyCar Series rulebook.
Revised Point Standings _ 1, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 79; 2, Colton Herta, Andretti Global, 77; 3, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, 67; 4, Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren, 64; 5, Will Power, Team Penske, 59; 6, Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 55; 7, Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren, 48; 8, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global, 47; 9, Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing, 48; 10, Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global, 37;
11, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, 34; 12, Romain Grosjean, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 32; 13, Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Racing, 31; 14, Augustin Canapino, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 29; 15, Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing, 29; 16, Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 29; 17, Linus Lundqvist, Chip Ganassi Racing, 26; 18, Tom Blomqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 23; 19, Pietro Fittipaldi, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 23; 20, Marcus Armstrong, Chip Ganassi Racing, 23;
21, Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 20; 22, Callum Ilott, Arrow McLaren, 19; 23, Theo Pourchaire, Arrow McLaren, 19; 24, Jack Harvey, Dale Coyne Racing, 18; 25, Sting Ray Robb, A.J. Foyt Racing, 18; 26, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, 16; 27, Nolan Siegel, Dale Coyne Racing, 10; 28, Colin Braun, Dale Coyne Racing, 10; 29, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske, 5.
