Champ Car denies appeal

Team Australia was denied their request by Race Director Tony Cotman to reconsider the penalty that was handed to them at the last Champ Car event in Assen.

Cotman ordered all drivers to stop using the Cosworth Power-to-Pass because of a software glitch. After the race it was determined seven drivers used Power-to-Pass after the order was given.

The Power-to-Pass system is a system that allows drivers to gain 50 extra horsepower from their Cosworth XFE engines for brief periods during a race by pressing a button on the steering wheel.

As a result, Dan Clarke, Neel Jani, Bruno Junqueira and Team Australia drivers Simon Pagenaud and Will Power were penalized for the next round, the Lexmark Indy 300 in Surfers Paradise, Australia and will only have 35 seconds of Power-to-Pass allocation. The two other drivers found to be in breach, Ryan Dalziel and Tristan Gommendy, are not racing in Australia this weekend. The remainder of the field will have the full compliment of 75 seconds.

Team Australia met with Cotman and presented data and voice recording information to explain the events in Assen where Power and Pagenaud were penalized for using Power-to-Pass after being instructed not to do so by the stewards. Cotman denied the team’s request to reconsider to change the penalty, even with concern by the team that the penalty was too severe for what was a small team mistake.

Cotman made the decision based on the grounds of safety to penalize any team using the Power-to-Pass and he will stick by his original decision, and therefore denies Team Australia’s request.

The decision, handed down from the previous Champ Car World Series round in Holland, will mean the Queenslander will only have the use of the ‘power-to-pass’ facility for 35 seconds during Sunday’s Lexmark Indy 300. Most other drivers will have the usual 75 seconds of use that provides an injection of 50 extra horsepower when utilized.

“We can still win the race without as much power-to-pass but will need to be conservative. Whatever the situation is we’ll give it a good go," said Power.

“It’s great to know we have the car speed so we’ll come back tomorrow and shoot for overall pole."