St. Petersburg: Newgarden and McLaughlin disqualified, O'Ward wins | FP

Plot twist

More than a month has passed since the first race of the IndyCar championship took place in St. Petersburgwhere Josef Newgarden he had imposed himself on his opponents, dominating almost the entire match. A few days ago, in Long Beach, the American from Penske had to give up a few laps from the end in the fight for the victory with Scott Dixon, which the latter later obtained, but the real twist occurred in the week leading up to the round in Alabama this weekend: Newgarden was indeed disqualified from the St. Petersburg race.

The consequences on the race and ranking

With him, the same sanction was also imposed on his teammate Scott McLaughlinwith success a St. Petersburg assigned thus to Pato O'Ward, with Will Power and Colton Herta on the podium. Furthermore, this new result, added to the outcome of Long Beach, also upsets the Drivers' classification, with Dixon now at the top, 2 points ahead of Herta. But what was the reason for this disqualification?

Push-to-pass takes center stage

IndyCar itself provided the explanation through its official channels. All the Penskeincluding that of Will Power (penalized 10 points in the rankings), they were in fact able to irregularly activate push-to-pass through specific software, using it during departure or restart before the finish line, i.e. from the point where it is allowed to be activated by the regulations. Race Direction noticed this violation during the Long Beach warm up, with all drivers being fined $25,000 each and having all event prizes in Florida forfeited. Power, unlike his teammates, was not disqualified as he did not activate the push-to-pass irregularly: “The integrity of the championship is fundamental to everything we do” – declared the president of IndyCar, Jay Frye – While the violation went undetected in St. Petersburg, IndyCar discovered the manipulation during Sunday's warmup in Long Beach and immediately addressed it by ensuring all cars were compliant for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Starting with this week's race at Barber Motorsports Park, new technical inspection procedures will be in place to discourage this violation.”