Josef Newgarden has been disquaไlified and has lost his victory from last month at St. Petersburg.

Fellow Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin has also been ꧙disqualified.

Both drive🥃rs violated IndyCar’s “Push to Pass” regulation in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersbuﷺrg, it has been ruled.

Pato O’Ward, as a result, has been named as th𓂃e retrospective winner🌞 of the race.

Newgarden and McLaughlin♒ ga༺ined an advantage on restarts, it was ruled.

Will Power was docked 10 points but not disqualified because, although he also viꦯolated the rule, he did not gain an advantage.

All three drivers were fined $25,000 and fo🐬rfeit their prize money from the season-opening race.

Newgarden has dropped from topping the IndyCaꦇr standings down to 11th༒, as a result.

Scott Dixon now leads the standings.

“The integrity of the INDYCAR SERIES championship is critical to everything we do,” IndyCar presid𒅌ent Jay Frye said.

“While the violation went undetected at St. Petersburg, INDYCAR discovered the manipulation during Sunday’s warmup in Long 𒆙Beach and immediately addressed it ensuring all cars were compliant for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

“Beginning with this week’s race at Barber Motorsports Park, new technical inspection p𓆏rocedures will be in place to deter this violation.”

IndyCar insisted that “Team Penske manipulated the overtake system” and t🌟heir d𒀰rivers used “Push to Pass on starts and restarts”.

A statement added: “According to🎃 the IndyCar rulebook, use of overtake is not available during championship races until the car reaches the alternate s🍬tart-finish line.

“It was determined that (Newgarde🐷n) and (McLaughlin) gained a competitive advantage by using Push to Pass on r👍estarts while (Power) did not.”

Team Penske confir🍸med they accept the ruling and will not appeal.

Team Penske president Tim Cindric said: “Unfortunately, the push-to-paౠss software was not removed as it shou♐ld have been, following recently completed hybrid testing in the Team Penske Indy cars.

“This software allowed for push-to-pass to be deployed during restarts at the St. Petersbur♔g Gr📖and Prix race, when it should not have been permitted. The No. 2 car driven by Josef Newgarden and the No. 3 car driven by Scott McLaughlin, both deployed push-to-pass on a restart, which violated INDYCAR rules. Team Penske accepts the penalties applied by IndyCar.”