Scott McLaughlin has accepted his disqualification from the season-opening Grand Prix of St Petersburg for mis-using the push-to-pass system.
His Penske team mate Will Power, who kept his finishing position in the race but received a points deduction for a lesser infringement, also issued a statement accepting his penalty.
Their team mate Josef Newgarden, who was disqualified along with McLaughlin, is yet to publicly acknowledge the series’ shock announcement 24 hours ago.
McLaughlin and Newgarden were found to have used their push-to-pass systems during restarts, which is forbidden under IndyCar’s rules. The series said Penske had “manipulated the overtake system” so that all three cars were able to use it at starts and restarts. Power did not use it at unauthorised times, but his team mates did.
Power said he was “disappointed” to learn of his penalty, which saw him lose 10 of the 40 points he would have scored for finishing second. “There was an oversight by our team and I was unaware of the situation until it was brought to our attention following Long Beach,” he said.
“As per the rules, I did not utilise the push-to-pash capabilities during any start or restart during the St. Petersburg race. While I accept the penalty, I want it to be known that I did nothing wrong and followed the rules. Now we move forward and my focus is on Barber.”
McLaughlin stressed he is “proud to be a member of Team Penske” and said “I fully stand with every one of my team mates.”
He addressed the question of why he used the system at a time when he would not normally be able to.
“Simply put, a mistake was made,” said McLaughlin. “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 cars 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.”
McLaughlin insisted he “would take no pleasure in achieving success in any way other than honestly.”
“We will all press forward from here and focus on the task at hand this weekend in Barber.”
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