TERRIBLE TIMES FOR TEAM PENSKE
Exactly a year ago Team Penske was on top of the IndyCar world.
Scott McLaughlin was on pole position for the 2024 Indianapolis 500 and his team-mates Josef Newgarden and Will Power completed a front-row lock-out.
Now Team Penske has fallen from the penthouse to the outhouse.
McLauglin will start the 2025 Indianapolis 500 from position #12 in his back-up car after a disastrous crash, while a cheating scandal has seen former race winners Newgarten and Power sent to the back row of the 33-car starting grid.
The month of May started strongly for the three-car Team Penske squad with each of their drivers featuring strongly in all practice sessions over many weeks.
The first blow came last Sunday when three-time Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin survived a spectacular crash in practice that wiped him out of qualifying. His position in the order for the Fast 12 did, however, keep him in grid slot 12 despite the drama that would follow.
As cars were being readied for the crucial pole-position shoot-out, an irregularity was found at the rear of the two remaining Team Penske racers.
A technical breach was reported for an illegal modification was found on the rear 'attenuator' – a piece behind the gearbox – on both cars.
Team Penske quickly withdrew them from the waiting line for qualifying and the two cars did not turn any laps. At first, it seemed the three Penske machines would line up alongside each other on Row 4.
But then IndyCar came down – hard.
So, what is an attenuator and why is important?
IndyCar and chassis supplier Dallara introduced a new rear attenuator for 2023 to improve safety and provide 'greater crushability' in a rear-end impact, to reduce the force felt by the driver when the back of the car is hit in a crash.
So, why was Team Penske in trouble?
The attenuators on the Power and Newgarden had been modified, allegedly to improve airflow at the back of the cars, and that's a definite no-no on a specified part.
In an official statement, IndyCar said:
“Yesterday, IndyCar ruled that all the facts related to the discovery of the modified attenuators on the Team Penske entries of Nos. 2 and 12 to verify they were in violation of IndyCar Rule 14.7.8.16. After the series confirmed the technical infraction, by rule, the violating cars were placed in the last positions of the qualifying session for which they qualified.
“Upon further review last night and early this morning, IndyCar will be moving cars No. 2 and 12 to the 32nd and 33rd starting positions for this year’s Indianapolis 500. They will start in order based upon their qualifying times from Saturday.
“The integrity of the Indianapolis 500 is paramount, and this violation of the IndyCar rule against modification to this part and using it ‘as supplied’ is clear,” IndyCar's president, J. Douglas Boles, said.
“The penalty should be more than simply starting where the cars might have qualified anyway, if given the opportunity. The cars belong in the field as two of the fastest 33; however, starting on the tail of the field is the appropriate penalty in this instance.”
"Car No. 3, (Mclaughlin) did not attempt to qualify Sunday in the Top 12 because of an accident in the earlier afternoon’s practice. Upon review of the car, and IndyCar impounding the No. 3 attenuator, IndyCar found that the car was in fact using a legal and unmodified attenuator. Therefore, car No. 3 will start in the 10th spot – the final spot of those who had qualified to participate in the Top 12."
But the starting penalties are not the end of the story.
Team Penske has been fined $US200,000 (approximately $300,000), with $US100,000 for each car, and will forfeit Indy 500 qualifying points.
In addition, the team strategists for the two cars, Tim Cindric and Ron Ruzewski, were suspended and the team will be forced to settle for pit allocations after the rest of the field have taken their pick.
Cindric is well known to Supercars fans in Australian for his role in the DJR Team Penske team which stormed to success after launching back in 2014.
There has been no official comment from Roger 'The Captain' Penske, who owns both Team Penske and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and nothing is expect.
More on the story soon, live from Indy . . .