IndyCar Fontana: mass penalties for 13 drivers in the championship finale

No fewer than the two main title contenders, Ryan-Hunter Reay and Will Power will be among the large group of drivers who receive a penalty this weekend of dropping 10 places on the starting grid, because they have changed engines.

IndyCar limits the season to the use of five new engines per car, with a 10-place grid penalty for each engine change from the fifth onwards. Despite this, the Reay and Power teams did not hesitate to change engines before the start of this weekend’s official track activity in Fontana, to minimise risk and start the race that will be decisive with fresh engines.

Helio Castroneves, Justin Wilson, James Hinchcliffe, Graham Rahal, Simon Pagenaud, Alex Tagliani, Scott Dixon, Wade Cunningham, Josef Newgarden, Charlie Kimball and Takuma Sato will have to give up 10 starting places relative to the time they set tomorrow in qualifying.

Since the race in Fontana will be on an oval, the difficulty of overtaking to gain positions is not something that worries them too much, as it would if they had to do it on a road circuit, so the loss of positions set out in the regulations makes little sense on these high-speed tracks.

Via | Autosport

Photo | speed