Source: Chris Jones/Penske Entertainment / other
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Josef Newgarden and his Team Penske crew have been disqualified from his victory at St. Petersburg.
IndyCar handed down the ruling on Wednesday, accusing Team Penske of “manipulating” their cars’ overtake system known more prominently as “Push-To-Pass.” Scott McLaughlin was also disqualified.
Will Power’s podium finish still stands, but he has been docked 10 championship points.
“The integrity of the IndyCar Series championship is critical to everything we do,” said IndyCar President Jay Frye. “While the violation went undetected at St. Petersburg, IndyCar discovered the manipulation during Sunday’s warmup in Long Beach.”
Frye said the manipulation was immediately rectified so that all cars were on a level playing field for the race at Long Beach.
According to the release of the ruling from IndyCar, Team Penske essentially manipulated the Push-To-Pass system on each of their three cars so that their drivers could use it during the start and restarts.
Push-To-Pass is the system that drivers use to overtake a car by pressing a button and getting an extra 10-15 horsepower. Drivers only get 200 seconds with of Push-To-Pass per race.
Drivers are not allowed to use Push-To-Pass on either. In fact, IndyCar actively disengages access to Push-To-Pass on starts and restarts. Once the starts/restarts are over, IndyCar allows drivers to use overtake.
Team Penske president Tim Cindric chalked the violation up to an oversight of removing hybrid testing equipment from all three of their cars.
“Unfortunately, the Push to Pass software was not removed as it should have been, following recently completed hybrid testing in the Team Penske Indy cars,” Cindric said. “This software allowed for Push to Pass to be deployed during restarts … when it should not have been permitted. The No. 2 car driven by Josef Newgarden and the No. 3 car driven by Scott McLaughlin both deployed Push to Pass on a restart, which violated IndyCar rules. Team Penske accepts the penalties applied by IndyCar.”
Additionally, all three entries have been fined $25,000 and will forfeit all prize money associated with the Streets of St. Petersburg race.
With the violations divvied out to the Penske drivers, the ruling throws a dramatic change into the championship standings after two-point races. Pato O’Ward has now been credited with the race win at St. Pete, his fifth career IndyCar Series win and his first in more than a year.
Power moves to second place and Colton Herta will be awarded third.
The ruling also moves Newgarden out of his lead in the championship standings making Scott Dixon the new championship leader. Newgarden drops to 11th in the standings.
The NTT IndyCar Series will be back racing on Sunday as they will take on Barber Motorsports Park in the Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix.
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Newgarden DQ’d From St. Pete Win; Penske Penalized For “Manipulating” Overtake was originally published on wibc.com
