Team Penske has announced the suspension of four team members following an investigation into the IndyCar team’s rules violations at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
The team’s cars were found to have been equipped with illegal push-to-pass software that allowed them to use the horsepower-boosting feature during restarts, which is prohibited by series rules.
Race-winner Josef Newgarden and teammate Scott McLaughlin, who finished second, were found to have used the feature illegally and were fined and had their results disqualified, while Will Power did not use it, but was docked 10 points for having an out-of-spec car.
Newgarden held a press conference ahead of the Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix where he claimed his No. 2 car’s team simply messed up and didn’t realize it was breaking the rules.
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Penske suspended team president Tim Cindric, managing director, Ron Ruzewski, No. 2 car race engineer Luke Mason and senior data engineer Robbie Atkinson for the upcoming Soniso Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“I recognize the magnitude of what occurred and the impact it continues to have on the sport to which I’ve dedicated so many decades. Everyone at Team Penske along with our fans and business partners should know that I apologize for the errors that were made and I deeply regret them,” team owner Roger Penske said in a press release.
Penske also owns the IndyCar series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and had previously removed himself from the day-to-day operations of the team to help avoid potential conflicts of interest.
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