'A MISTAKE WAS MADE': KIWI MCLAUGHLIN STRIPPED OF THIRD AT INDYCAR'S ST PETERSBURG GP

Kiwi Scott McLaughlin has been stripped of his third-place finish at IndyCar's St Petersburg Grand Prix in Florida last month, with Scott Dixon among the prime beneficaries of the punishment handed to his Team Penske.

McLaughlin's teammate and championship leader Josef Newgarden has also lost the points from his victory around the street circuit, promoting Dixon to the head of the standings after three events.

Mexican driver Pato O'Ward, who finished second on the day, has been awarded the win.

Team Penske were slapped with penalties, after violating the US motorsport championship's 'push-to-pass' rules on the course, where McLaughlin won two years ago and finished on the podium again in March.

Push-to-pass is a mechanism that gives drivers a temporary boost of power, but can only be used in certain situations. Team Penske drivers McLaughlin, Newgarden and Will Power all employed it improperly at St Petersburg, although Power was deemed to have gained no advantage.

"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," said Team Penske president Tim Cindric.

"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 accept the penalties applied by INDYCAR."

McLaughlin has defended his action on Instagram, claiming he also gained no advantage from its use.

"Simply put, a mistake was made," said the three-time Australian Supercars champion. "I have the highest level of integrity, and it is important to protect both my own reputation and that of the team.

"I was not aware of the situation with the software. "In this instance, I used a single, very brief (1.9 second) deployment of push-to-pass in a section of the track - exit of turn nine -  where it is typically utilised throughout the race.

"I hit the button out of habit, but I did not pass any cards nor did I gain any time advantage. The data, which INDYCAR has, confirms all of this information.

"While I accept the penalty, I want to be clear that I did not gain an advantage over my competitors.

"IndyCar's competition is the best in the world and I would take no pleasure in achieving success in any way other than honestly."

After his victory at Long Beach, Dixon sits two points clear of American Colton Herta on the IndyCar table.

2024-04-25T01:41:02Z dg43tfdfdgfd