Marcus Ericsson’s Indy 500 Runner-Up Finish Disqualified For Technical Violation

Marcus Ericsson came oh-so-close to winning his second Indy 500 on Sunday, but even if he’d managed to get by Alex Palou in the final laps, he’d have to give back the milk.

The cars of Ericsson and his Andretti Global teammate Kyle Kirkwood, who finished sixth, both failed their post-race technical inspection.

According to IndyCar, the cars were found to have “modifications to the Dallara-supplied Energy Management System (EMS) covers and cover-to-A-arm mounting points with unapproved spacers and parts.”

The modifications may have afforded “enhanced aerodynamic efficiency” to the cars, IndyCar said in a news release.

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The Prema Racing car of Callum Ilott was also disqualified due to an out-of-spec front wing. Ilott finished in 12th place, but his teammate Robert Shwartzman, who started on pole, crashed while entering his pit stall and didn’t finish the race.

All three cars were sent to the back of the race results based on their relative finishing positions, with Ericsson in 31st, Kirkwood in 32rd and Ilott in 33rd. Race winner Alex Palou’s car passed inspection.

The teams were fined $100,000 each and their team/competition managers have been suspended for the next race in Detroit. The penalties can be appealed.

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The Indy 500 was run under a cloud, and not just the ones that delayed the race several times with rain. The Team Penske cars of Josef Newgarden and Will Power were disqualified from Top 12 qualifying due to rules infractions and started the race from the back of the field.

Newgarden drove his car as high as sixth place before a fuel pressure issue ended his day after 135 laps. Power did not have the same speed on race day and finished 16th.