IndyCar confirms additional Markham grid penalties

IndyCar has announced that the Arrow McLaren-Chevrolet of Pato O’Ward and the Andretti Global-Hondas of Kyle Kirkwood and Will Power will drop six grid positions for the inaugural Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham according to Rule 16.1.2.1.2. This is in response to all three entries receiving unapproved engine changes following yesterday’s qualifying session

According to the rule, “A fifth engine is eligible to earn Engine Manufacturer points and will be considered an Approved Engine Change-Out if a Full Season Entrant has completed the Full Season Entrant Engine Mileage with its first four Engines. Otherwise, a fifth or more Engine does not earn Engine Manufacturer points and will be considered an Unapproved Engine Change-Out.”

The move by all three entries is strategic, since they were starting at or near the rear of the field. It brings the total number of penalized NTT IndyCar Series entries this weekend to six, since the ECR-Chevrolets of Alexander Rossi and Christian Rasmussen and the Meyer Shank Racing entry of Marcus Armstrong had also been docked six positions for the same early change to a fifth engine.

This morning’s warm-up session was led by front-row starter Christian Lundgaard of McLaren on a 1m14.4411s, ahead of Juncos Holling Racing-Chevy of Rinus VeeKay who will start from the third row. Third fastest was Louis Foster of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda, who will lead the field to the green at 12:22pm ET having earned the second pole position of his IndyCar career.

Teams have now made their tire choices for the opening stint, and intriguingly, all but one of the top 15 cars have elected to start on Firestone’s softer alternate compound. The one exception is P3 starter, Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske-Chevrolet.

From 16th back to 25th and last, all but two cars will start on the harder Firestone primaries. The exceptions are P22 and P24 starters, Kirkwood and Armstrong.

REVISED STARTING LINE-UP