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Rossi led 44 of the 85 laps to document his eighth profession IndyAutomobile win and his first in additional than three years. Nevertheless, following post-race technical inspection final Saturday, the #27 Andretti Autosport was discovered to have reached minimal weight in a way not allowed by the IndyAutomobile rulebook.
Rule 14.4.1.1. states that the minimal weight shall embody the automotive in ready-to-compete situation excluding driver, driver equivalency weight, gas and drink bottle content material. Rule 14.4.1.1.1. states that minimal weight for street/avenue course occasions is 1700lbs (771.1kg).
As a consequence, IndyAutomobile has fined Andretti Autosport $25,000 and penalised Rossi 20 factors.
The penalty cuts Rossi’s factors tally from 298 to 278, placing his factors deficit to championship chief, Workforce Penske’s Will Energy, to 153 with solely 4 rounds remaining.
It additionally means Rossi slips from ninth to eleventh within the championship, in order that Colton Herta is now Andretti Autosport’s high contender within the standings in ninth with 285 factors. Their team-mates Romain Grosjean and Devlin DeFrancesco sit in 14th and twenty third respectively.
“From a sporting perspective, the automotive met minimal necessities,” mentioned IndyAutomobile president Jay Frye. “From a technical perspective, the best way [Andretti Autosport] achieved the load just isn’t allowed.
“To satisfy minimal weight, the drink bottle and its contents had been used as automotive ballast, which isn’t permitted and why the group is being fined and penalised.”
Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport Honda
Picture by: Geoffrey M. Miller / Motorsport Photographs
Though IndyAutomobile acknowledged that “members could contest the imposition of the penalties detailed within the assessment and enchantment procedures of the NTT IndyAutomobile Sequence rulebook,” group boss Rob Edwards knowledgeable Autosport the squad accepts the penalty.
Rossi is about to depart Michael Andretti’s squad on the finish of the season to hitch Arrow McLaren SP because it expands to 3 automobiles.
Rossi, who completed within the high three of the IndyAutomobile championship in 2018 and ’19, shall be changed at Andretti by present IndyAutomobile rookie and 2021 Indy Lights champion Kyle Kirkwood, who will be a part of alongside the retained Herta, Grosjean and DeFrancesco.
