Josef Newgarden DQ’d, loses win at St. Petersburg

Josef Newgarden has been disqualified and has lost his victory from last month at St. Petersburg.

Fellow Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin has also been disqualified.

Both drivers violated IndyCar’s “Push to Pass” regulation in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, it has been ruled.

Pato O’Ward, as a result, has been named as the retrospective winner of the race.

Newgarden and McLaughlin gained an advantage on restarts, it was ruled.

Will Power was docked 10 points but not disqualified because, although he also violated the rule, he did not gain an advantage.

All three drivers were fined $25,000 and forfeit their prize money from the season-opening race.

Newgarden has dropped from topping the IndyCar standings down to 11th, as a result.

Scott Dixon now leads the standings.

“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.”

IndyCar insisted that “Team Penske manipulated the overtake system” and their drivers used “Push to Pass on starts and restarts”.

A statement added: “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 (Newgarden) and (McLaughlin) gained a competitive advantage by using Push to Pass on restarts while (Power) did not.”

Team Penske confirmed they accept the ruling and will not appeal.

Team Penske president Tim Cindric said: “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.

“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.”