P1racenews AI automatic summary:
Penske president Tim Cindric and Josef Newgarden’s engineer are among four members of staff to have been suspended by the team for the next two IndyCar races, including the Indy 500, following controversial disqualifications one month after the St Petersburg season opener
Roger Penske has apologized for the errors that resulted in the disqualification of two of his drivers from the St Petersburg IndyCar season opener. As a response, Penske has suspended a number of personnel, including the team’s president in charge of operations and Josef Newgarden’s engineer. Tim Cindric, the president of Team Penske, attributed the issue to a line of code in the cars’ software that was mistakenly left on from a hybrid test. Luke Mason, Josef Newgarden’s lead engineer for 2023, has also been suspended for two races, along with Ron Ruzewski and Robbie Atkinson. Team Penske acknowledged significant failures in their processes and internal communications in a statement. The disqualifications have affected the drivers differently, with Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden bearing the brunt, while Will Power was fined 10 championship points for the team’s error.
