Josef Newgarden has been stripped of his victory in last month’s IndyCar season-opener at St. Petersburg and his Team Penske team-mate Scott McLaughlin disqualified from third after violations were discovered.
Both drivers were struck from the results for wrongfully being able to use push-to-pass on restarts. The third Team Penske entry of Will Power received a 10-point penalty but was not stripped of his finish as he did not use it on restarts.
As a result, 45 days after the checkered flag flew, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward was promoted to the victory, with Power moved up to second and Andretti Global’s Colton Herta third.
A release sent out by IndyCar reads: “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 that the No. 2 and the No. 3 gained a competitive advantage by using Push to Pass on restarts while the No. 12 did not.”
The violations became known during the warmup session for the Grand Prix of Long Beach last weekend.
Penske violated two of the following rules:
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.
Per the rulebook, the violation is considered a Race Procedure Penalty (9.2.2.), which includes the right to reposition the driver and car in the postings or results, with a disqualification (9.2.2.6) that includes the forfeit of points and awards.
