IndyCar News: Penske cars caught cheating in St. Petersburg (Update)

“I’ve emulated Roger Penske for many years on and off the track, so today’s news is quite a disappointment for me,” rival team owner Chip Ganassi told the AP.

“This is a blemish on his team, their organization, and the series. Very disappointing as a fellow owner and competitor in the series.”

INDYCAR has announced penalties for Team Penske, including disqualifications for the No. 2 (driver Josef Newgarden) and No. 3 (Scott McLaughlin) and a 10-point penalty for No. 12 (Will Power) from the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding on Sunday, March 10 on the Streets of St. Petersburg.

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 rule book, 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.

During the Sunday, April 21 Warmup session ahead of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, INDYCAR discovered the team’s possible rules violation.

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 rule book, 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.

Additionally, all three entries have been fined $25,000 and will forfeit all prize money associated with the Streets of St. Petersburg race.

“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 warm up 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.”

Due to the disqualification penalty of the No 2, the No. 5 entry of Arrow McLaren driven by Pato O’Ward is now credited with the win on the Streets of St. Petersburg..

Members may contest the imposition of the penalties detailed in the review and appeal procedures of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES rulebook.

Cheaters Excuse

“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,” Team Penske President Tim Cindric said. “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.”

Revised St. Petersburg GP Results

Revised 2024 Point Standings

1 Scott Dixon 79
2 Colton Herta 77
3 Alex Palou 67
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 Lundgaard 20
22 Callum Ilott 19
23 Theo Pourchaire 19
24 Jack Harvey 18
25 Sting Ray Robb 18
26 Christian Rasmussen 16
27 Nolan Siegel 10
28 Colin Braun 10
29 Scott McLaughlin 5
30 Marco Andretti 0
31 Ed Carpenter 0
32 Helio Castroneves 0
33 Conor Daly 0
34 Ryan Hunter-Reay 0
35 Kyle Larson 0
36 Katherine Legge 0
37 David Malukas 0
38 Takuma Sato 0