A massive penalty was handed out to Team Penske today after it was discovered that the three-car team used “Push to Pass” in St Petersburg, when it was not supposed to be working. IndyCar officials were having technical difficulties, and P2P was unable to be deployed to the 27 cars, but somehow Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin, and Will Power were all using it.

Newgarden and McLaughlin were disqualified, which handed the race win to Pato O’Ward. Power was given a ten-point penalty while his two teammates lost all of their points. Tim Cindric stated that it was a mistake in the software not being uninstalled from the cars, but RACER reported it goes much deeper than that.

Several on-board videos have been surfacing showing the drivers hitting buttons on their steering wheel, that have raised many questions. There is likely more to come in this latest saga, as details continue to emerge and others in the industry speak out. The full press release from IndyCar is below.

[NTT IndyCar Series Press Release]

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 rulebook, 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 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.

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 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.”

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.