McLaren inherits win as IndyCar rivals disqualified

Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin have both been disqualified by IndyCar from the season-opening Grand Prix of St Petersburg as McLaren's Pato O'Ward inherits the win.

The race took place on March 10th, but during last weekend's Long Beach Grand Prix, IndyCar became aware of a potential push-to-pass violation by the Team Penske cars that had finished first and third respectively.

IndyCar found that the Penske-Chevrolets were able to access the push-to-pass overtaking boost on restarts, something forbidden by the rulebook until cars reach the alternate start line.

Newgarden and McLaughlin were disqualified after being found to have used the system, but team-mate Will Power in the #12 was not after he did not use it. His fourth-place finish is now a third place, with all three Penske entries fined $25,000 and forfeit all prize money from the race.

Penske Team President Tim Cindric revealed that the cause of the problem was that software was not removed from the cars as it should have been following recent hybrid testing.

He added that Penske "accepts the penalties" applied by IndyCar.

McLaren's O'Ward is promoted to the race win, its first since the second Iowa race in 2022, with Long Beach winner Scott Dixon now the championship leader following Newgarden's disqualification.