INDYCAR announced Tuesday afternoon a penalty levied against the #3 Team Penske of Helio Castroneves following his win in Texas. The league found that Castroneves' car failed post-race technical inspection for not complying with Rule 14.6.6.14, which reads:
“Obviously we are very disappointed that the No. 3 car did not pass post-race inspection after Saturday’s race at Texas," said Penske Racing President, Tim Cindric. "The rule in question (14.6.6.14) states that the diffuser exit must measure 7.600." After the race, ours was 7.575” because we neglected to tighten the braces that position the rear of the diffuser following pre-race inspection. The way Helio’s car raced did not provide any advantage as a lower diffuser height actually adds drag and reduces downforce. To ensure this is the case, we ran this configuration in the wind tunnel on Monday morning and found that the No. 3 car actually raced with three pounds less downforce and one pound more drag than what it would have had if we tightened the underwing braces properly.”
The penalization of Team Penske marks the 2nd year in a row that the Texas race winner was disciplined following tech. Last season Dale Coyne Racing was fined $7,500 and docked 5 entrant points for use of an illegal sidepod top deck component.
The exit of the underwing height is 7.600Team Penske has been fined $35,000 and docked 15 entrant points.
inches with a tolerance of plus 0.050 inches and
minus 0.000 inches
“Obviously we are very disappointed that the No. 3 car did not pass post-race inspection after Saturday’s race at Texas," said Penske Racing President, Tim Cindric. "The rule in question (14.6.6.14) states that the diffuser exit must measure 7.600." After the race, ours was 7.575” because we neglected to tighten the braces that position the rear of the diffuser following pre-race inspection. The way Helio’s car raced did not provide any advantage as a lower diffuser height actually adds drag and reduces downforce. To ensure this is the case, we ran this configuration in the wind tunnel on Monday morning and found that the No. 3 car actually raced with three pounds less downforce and one pound more drag than what it would have had if we tightened the underwing braces properly.”
The penalization of Team Penske marks the 2nd year in a row that the Texas race winner was disciplined following tech. Last season Dale Coyne Racing was fined $7,500 and docked 5 entrant points for use of an illegal sidepod top deck component.