Over a month later, Pato O’Ward has been declared the winner of the St. Petersburg Grand Prix
Over a month ago, Indycar opened their 2024 season on the Streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. Josef Newgarden drove to the race win.
Over a month later, Indycar has issued three penalties to Team Penske. The No. 2 (driver Josef Newgarden) and No. 3 (Scott McLaughlin) have been disqualified. Additionally, the No. 12 (Will Power) has been handed a 10-point penalty.
All three teams have been fined $25,000. They’ll also forfeit all prize-money from the race.
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.”
Discovery
The violation wasn’t discovered until the warmup session on April 21 during the Grand Prix of Long Beach.
“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.”
The No. 2 and No. 3 used push-to-pass on restarts while the No. 12 car did not.
Following the disqualification of Josef Newgarden, Pato O’Ward has been handed the race win.
Jay Frye comments
“The integrity of the INDYCAR SERIES championship is critical to everything we do,” INDYCAR President Jay Frye said.
“While the violation went undetected at St. Petersburg, INDYCAR discovered the manipulation during Sunday’s warmup in Long Beach 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.”
St. Petersburg Results: March 10, 2024 (Indycar Series)
Team Penske statement
“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,” stated Tim Cindric, President, Team Penske.
“This software allowed for push-to-pass to be deployed during restarts at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix race, 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.”
Scott McLaughlin comments
“First and foremost, I am proud to be a member of Team Penske,” Scott McLaughlin opened in a post to X.
“I fully stand with every one of my teammates. Simply put, a mistake was made. II have the highest level of integrity and it is important to protect both my own reputation and that of my team.”
“I was not aware of the situation with the software. In this instance, I used a single, very brief (1.9 second) deployment of push to pass in a section of the track exit of turn 9 where it is typically utilized throughout the race.”
“I hit the button out of habit, but I did not pass any cars nor did I gain any time advantage. The data, which INDYCAR has, confirms all of this information. While II accept the penalty,, I want to be clear that I did not gain an advantage over my competitors.”
“INDYCAR’s competition is the best in the world and I would take no pleasure in achieving success in any way other than honestly.”
“We will all press forward from here and focus on the task at hand this weekend in Barber.”
UPDATED
St. Petersburg Results
March 10, 2024
Indycar Series
Pos | Driver
1. Pato O’Ward
2. Will Power
3. Colton Herta
4. Alex Palou
5. Felix Rosenqvist
6. Alexander Rossi
7. Scott Dixon
8. Rinus Veekay
9. Santino Ferrucci
10. Kyle Kirkwood
11. Callum Ilott
12. Kyffin Simpson
13. Pietro Fittipaldi
14. Graham Rahal
15. Tom Blomqvist
16. Agustin Canapino
17. Jack Harvey
18. Christian Lundgaard
19. Christian Rasmussen
20. Colin Braun
21. Linus Lundqvist
22. Romain Grosjean
23. Marcus Ericsson
24. Sting Ray Robb
25. Marcus Armstrong
26. Josef Newgarden
27. Scott McLaughlin
UPDATED
Indycar Point Standings
Pos | Driver | Points
1. Scott Dixon
79
2. Colton Herta
77
3. Alex Palou
87
4. Pato O’Ward
64
5. Will Power
59
6. Felix Rosenqvist
55
7. Alexander Rossi
48
8. Kyle Kirkwood
47
9. Rinus VeeKay
40
10. Marcus Ericsson
37
11. Josef Newgarden
34
12. Romain Grosjean
32
13. Santino Ferrucci
31
14. Agustin Canapino
29
15. Kyffin Simpson
29
16. Graham Rahal
29
17. Linus Lundqvist
26
18. Tom Blomqvist
23
19. Pietro Fittipaldi
23
20. Marcus Armstrong
23
21. Christian Lungaard
20
22. Callum Ilott
19
23. Theo Pourchaire
19
24. Jack Harvey
18
25. Sting Ray Robb
19
26. Christian Rasmussen
16
27. Nolan Siegel
10
28. Colin Braun
10
29. Scott McLaughlin
5
30. Marco Andretti
0
Links
Josef Newgarden | Scott McLaughlin | Will Power | Team Penske | Pato O’Ward | Grand Prix of St Petersburg | Indycar
