IndyCar Officiating flags push-to-pass glitch at Long Beach

The IndyCar Series’ push-to-pass (P2P) system was again the source of a problem at the Long Beach Grand Prix.

After the event’s conclusion, the new IndyCar Officiating group announced a failure of the P2P software prior to the restart that took place at the end of lap 61.

The P2P system, which is manually activated and deactivated by IndyCar Officiating’s race control staff, was meant to be turned off – per IndyCar’s rules – leading into the restart to prevent drivers from having an extra boost of approximately 50hp to deploy on the restart.

IndyCar Officiating found 12 of the 25 drivers made use of P2P on the restart, which is a surprisingly low number as most of the field is assumed to press the P2P button on restarts to capitalize on any human- or software-related system issues that would play to their advantage.  Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden cited the routine practice of pressing the P2P button prior to starts and restarts while explaining his three illegal uses of P2P power during the St. Petersburg race in 2024; teammate Scott McLaughlin was found to have used it once, and both were penalized for the infractions.

The usage came to light at Long Beach in 2024 during the pre-race warmup session when IndyCar encountered a P2P error that deactivated the system. Penske’s rivals noticed on the timing and scoring feed that although their drivers were unable to use P2P, the three Penske cars were shown with P2P being deployed, which led to an investigation that revealed the St. Petersburg violations.

With the latest P2P issue at Long Beach, the new IndyCar Officiating group overseen by the new Independent Officiating Board (IOB) has chosen to forego penalties to the 12 drivers who benefited from the errant P2P activation on the restart, stating, “The burden of the rule rests with IndyCar to assure that the software runs properly.”

From its post-race investigation, IndyCar Officiating said a single pass for position took place during the restart between Marcus Armstrong in the No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda (main image) and Santino Ferrucci in the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Honda, but the stewards have also chosen to take no corrective action, citing near-equal use of P2P by both drivers on the lap where P2P was not meant to be available for use.

In a call with RACER on Monday, IOB member Ray Evernham said a full analysis of the failure will be conducted once the series’ transporters return from Long Beach and the P2P system can be inspected at length.