Colton Herta has been penalized six positions for Sunday’s IndyCar race from Road America, the series has announced.
Herta had made it into the Fast 6 round of Saturday’s qualifying, and put in the fifth fastest time of the afternoon to earn a starting spot on the third row.
The recently announced penalty drops him down six places, and he will now start the race from 11th, just behind Simon Pagenaud.
IndyCar listed rule 16.5.4 as the cause of the penalty, which outlines that drivers may not change engines over the course of the Indy 500 event.
The infraction is understandable considering Herta crashed hard in the Carb Day practice session, and ended up sliding down the track upside down.
Usually penalties incurred during the Indy 500 are deferred to the next round, which means this grid penalty would have been applied during last weekend’s Detroit Grand Prix just as Dalton Kellett’s penalty was.
But Honda reportedly was still expecting to be able to repair the engine until recently, meaning the penalty was not applied until the decision was made to scrap the engine this weekend.
Herta’s Andretti Autosport team was forced to run an entire backup car for the Indy 500 on account of the crash, and he struggled all race to a 30th place finish.
The 22-year-old driver will look to have a better result this weekend despite the penalty, as Road America typically allows for more passing than other tracks on the schedule.
