Josef Newgarden has apologised to IndyCar, its fans and his team after he was disqualified from the opening round in St. Petersburg.
The Penske driver was stripped of victory in the season-opening round by IndyCar two days ago, six weeks after the event was held.
IndyCar officials discovered prior to last weekend’s race at Long Beach that the three Penske cars of Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin and Will Power had a software setting that could enable them to use the Push-to-Pass boost system during race starts and restarts, when it is not permitted under the regulations.
Newgarden and McLaughlin were both disqualified from the race results as they were found to have gained a competitive advantage from using Push-to-Pass outside of permitted times. As Power was deemed not to have used his Push-to-Pass illegally, he was allowed to retain his classification – promoted to second as a result of his team mates’ disqualifications – but was docked 10 championship points.
Speaking to media for the first time since the announcement, an emotional Newgarden told media including RaceFans he took full responsibility for the rules breach.
“I think at this point it’s really important to look at the facts of what happened,” Newgarden said. “And the facts are extremely clear.
“There’s no doubt that that we were in breach of the rules at St. Petersburg. I used Push-to-Pass at an unauthorised time twice on two different restarts. There’s really nothing else to it other than that. Those are the rules and we did not adhere to them.
“What’s really important about that too, is there’s only one person sitting in the car. It’s just me. And so that responsibility and the use of the Push-to-Pass in the correct manner falls completely on me. It is my responsibility to know the rules and the regulations at all points, and to make sure that I get that right. And in that regard, I failed my team miserably – a complete failure from my side, to get that right.”
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Newgarden described the situation as “embarrassing” and apologised for failing to adhere to the rules.
“If there’s anything that I wanted to come say too, I want to deeply apologise to our fans, our partners, my team mates, the competitors that I race against – anybody that’s in our community,” he said.
“I’ve worked my entire career to hold myself to an incredibly high standard and clearly I’ve fallen…
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