Prema fined, docked points for IndyCar rules breach at Thermal Club
The Italian team has been penalised after one of its cars caught fire in Thermal Club practice.
Prema has been hit with a $25,000 fine and a 10-point deduction after it was found to have violated IndyCar’s technical rules at the Thermal Club last week.
IndyCar said its investigation showed that the official emergency pull cable - which is used to activate the onboard fire suppression system - was missing on on Robert Shwartzman’s #83 car and replaced with an unapproved version.
This meant that IndyCar newcomer Prema had breached Rule 14.1.3 of IndyCar’s technical regulations, which states that ‘All parts provided by an Approved Supplier must be used as supplied without modification unless otherwise approved by INDYCAR and stated in these Rules or in update bulletins.’
Monetary fines and points drops are both allowed as penalty for a ‘non-race procedure’ infringements, as per IndyCar’s rulebook.
Shwartzman had accumulated 17 points in the opening two rounds so far, but the penalty drops him from 22nd to 27th position in the standings.
The Israeli-flagged driver stopped on track during Friday practice for the Thermal Club event with flames coming out of his Chevrolet-engined Prema car.
IndyCar’s safety team managed to extinguish the fire, but Prema had to rebuild the car overnight to allow him to take part in the remainder of the weekend.
The former Ferrari Formula 1 protege qualified down in 27th place but was able to climb up to 22nd position in the race, a lap down on winner Alex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing).
