IndyCar officials have announced that Colton Herta will be forced to take a grid penalty for Sunday’s race following an unapproved engine change overnight.
When a competitor takes a fifth engine in a single season without each of the previous engines lasting all the way to the mileage limit, penalties are applied at the following race.
The nine-place grid penalty drops Herta down to 12th for the start of this afternoon’s race. Herta said after qualifying that his team expected to change the engine between races, and that was indeed necessary.
As a result of the penalty, Conor Daly is promoted to the third place position and Takuma Sato will start alongside in fourth.
Iowa is perhaps one of the best tracks to take a penalty, as there are plenty of passing opportunities and 300 laps to gain the positions back.
The penalty comes for the second race of the weekend’s doubleheader, and one day after Herta suffered technical difficulties. Clutch issues forced his team to change his steering wheel on pit lane, and led to him finishing eight laps down.
Sunday’s race is set to begin at 2:00 PM Central Time, and temperatures will be less of a concern than the day before.
