Ericsson loses Indy 500 second place as Andretti and Prema penalised
Marcus Ericsson has lost his second place in the Indianapolis 500 as part of a trio of post-race technical infraction penalties that also hit his Andretti team-mate Kyle Kirkwood and Prema driver Callum Ilott
Ericsson loses Indy 500 second place as Andretti and Prema penalised
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Marcus Ericsson has lost his second place in the Indianapolis 500 as part of a trio of post-race technical infraction penalties that also hit his Andretti team-mate Kyle Kirkwood and Prema driver Callum Ilott.

Ericsson was devastated after being passed for the lead by eventual winner Alex Palou in the closing stages at Indy, and will now not even have his second place.

In a highly unusual move for IndyCar - which usually stops at fines and/or entrant points deductions for technical infringements - Andretti team-mates Ericsson and Kirkwood (who finished sixth) have been demoted to 31st and 32nd in the classification because their cars were found to have illegal aerodynamic modifications.

An IndyCar statement said the series had "discovered modifications to the Dallara-supplied energy management system [EMS] covers and cover-to-A-arm mounting points with unapproved spacers and parts" on the two Andretti cars. It has asked IndyCar for a full review.

$100,000 fines have also been imposed for each car and their team managers suspended for the next race in Detroit.

Andretti said it was "taking the necessary time to assess the situation" and "will be requesting a full review with IndyCar".

Prema was found to have infringed rules on "minimum endplate height and location specification" on Ilott's car, which had finished 12th. He is now classified 33rd and his team receives the same fine and management personnel suspension as Andretti.

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Both teams were also hit with IndyCar's "improper conduct" rule which addresses "any member attempting to or engaging in unsportsmanlike conduct, unsafe conduct, or conduct detrimental to racing".

The penalties move Foyt's David Malukas up to second and McLaren driver Pato O'Ward to third.

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Foyt now has two drivers in the top five as the double Andretti penalty elevates Santino Ferrucci to fifth behind Meyer Shank's Felix Rosenqvist.

The change is significant in the battle for second in the championship behind Alex Palou.

Kirkwood had been Palou's closest challenger entering the Indy 500 but he was overtaken by O'Ward even before his penalty.

O'Ward has reduced Palou's gap to 112 after moving up a place, while Kirkwood is now 150 points back.

IndyCar's technical policing had come under pressure during the event amid the controversy over Penske's rule infractions and the revelation that the parts deemed illegal on 2023/24 winner Josef Newgarden and Will Power's cars in qualifying this year had been present on last year's race cars.

It means after qualifying and the race significant changes have been made to the classification, as Penske's cars were also put to the back of the grid for its infraction.

1 Alex Palou (Ganassi)
2 David Malukas (Foyt)
3 Pato O’Ward (McLaren)
4 Felix Rosenqvist (Meyer Shank)
5 Santino Ferrucci (Foyt)
6 Christian Rasmussen (Carpenter)
7 Christian Lundgaard (McLaren)
8 Conor Daly (Juncos Hollinger)
9 Takuma Sato (Rahal Letterman Lanigan)
10 Helio Castroneves (Meyer Shank)

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