IndyCar Officiating initiates post-race reports

Starting with this weekend’s Bommarito Automotive Group race at World Wide Technology Raceway, IndyCar Officiating will begin posting after-action reports on the decisions made by race control and findings made by technical inspection.

"One of the takeaways from the initial months of IndyCar Officiating was a need for thorough infraction communication and, in some cases, comparison to prior rulings to continue our goal of transparency and consistency in rule implementation,” said Independent Officiating Board chairman Raj Nair. “This post-event report will be clear in structure, process, and findings.

“The board would like to thank the entire IndyCar Officiating team for implementing this important step as we continue our mission. Working across the paddock with key stakeholders, we believe this structure will lead to a very positive result for the sport.”

IndyCar Officiating outlined some of what can be expected in the reports that will live on https://noticeboard.indycarofficiating.org.

Race Recaps

• In-race penalties imposed – for example, passing under yellow, emergency service in a closed pit or pit lane speed violations
• Incident reviews referred to the stewards and concluded with no further action

Practice Recaps

• In-practice penalties imposed – for example, pit lane speed violations, causing a yellow or red flag or entering the wrong pit box

Technical inspection findings from qualifying and races

• What was inspected and the extent and subject matter
• Explanation of any infraction and its resulting penalty-level classification
• Summary of technical or procedural distinction, where relevant

IndyCar Officiating also outlined its three-tier technical penalty guidelines, which will be referenced in the post-race reports when applicable.

Infraction Level 1

• A single-dimensional non-compliance, such as a height or size measurement outside tolerance, typically arising from wear, damage or assembly failure with no finding of altered component location or improper conduct.

Infraction Level 2

• A more significant compliance failure, such as an out-of-tolerance aerodynamic angle, driver or car weight, fuel-system or safety equipment matter, where the configuration is outside specification but does not involve modification of a spec part.

Infraction Level 3

• Modification of a spec part, regardless of which assembly or subsystem it belongs to, or the installation of unapproved or altered components – a departure from the car’s approved specification.

Each level comes with increased severity.

“Associated penalties begin with point assessments and fines at Level 1 and rise to disqualification and suspensions at Level 3,” IndyCar Officiating wrote. “Specific monetary fines, point assessments and other consequences imposed within a given infraction level remain at the sole discretion of IndyCar Officiating.”

The managing director of officiating was tasked with developing the new guidelines and public reporting structure.

“We have moved quickly but meticulously in applying this next step in greater officiating transparency,” Scot Elkins said. “Our goals include increased consistency and clarity as these reports look to provide an additional resource toward structure and process. We look forward to implementing this next phase beginning at WWT Raceway.”

Post-event reports for Indy NXT events will begin later this summer.