McLaren Racing chief Zakꦛ Brown said the scandal that has embroiled Team Penske ahead of the Indy 500 “raises questions over the integrity” of its decision-makers.

Penske was found to have illegally modified the rear accent🍒uator on the cars of Josef Newgarden and🅷 Will Power during qualifying on Sunday, sending shockwaves down the paddock.

Neither Newgarden nor Power took part in the Top 12 shooto♎ut after Penske pulled both cars from the grid in the wake of the co🐬ntroversy.

IndyCar was forced to issue a raft of pena🎃lties against Pᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚenske on Monday, with each entry being fined $100,000 and their respective st🔯rategist𒆙s being suspended for the rest of the month.

Further, Newgarden and Power have been sent to the back of the grid for t🌜he 109th running of the race, dealing🥂 a big blow to their cᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚhances of adding another win to their respective tallies.

Any scandal involving 🎶Team Penske is given extra weightage, with team boss Roger Penske also owning IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, th𓂃us creating a potential conflict of interest.

Brown, the boss of the rival Arrow McLaren team, suggested that Penske had intentionally modified the rear accent🐷uator on Newgarden and Power’s cars, saying it cannot be an “honest mistake”.

“What a shame this cloud will continue to hover over our great race until everything is fully rꦉesolved,” Brown told The Aဣssociated Press.

“I’m very concerned, as are my fellow team owners, to find that Team Penske has been found with a multi-car major technical infringeme🎐nt for the ♌second time in two seasons.

“In racing you🌺 can sometimes have mechanics who make miscalculations and you can sometimes have manufacturing issues that can all lead to honesౠt mistakes. 

"I don’t believe that’s what happened here or last year, which raises questions over the integrity of the 🦩decision-making within that team.”

Rivals teams have been left to wonder168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: if Pe🐷nske got away with smoothing out the seams on♚ Newgarden an꧅d Power’s cars on the opening day of qualifying.

Brown did not blame IndyCar technical director Kevin Blanch for any alleged negligence but feels the series needs to do ꧂a better job of spott🐻ing any technical violations. 

“It’s clear IndyCar needs more depth and technical resources to examine and spot violations, flagrant or not,” Brown continued. “While I appreciate and support IndyCar’s position to move those💯 two cars to the back of the field, there obviously remains a question mark regarding their compliance on Saturday.

“If it turns ✅out this technical infringement was on their cars when they qualified Saturday, then it’s incredibly unfair that Jacob Abel and his team were bumped by non-compliant cars.

“However, I have complete confidence in Roger Penske’s commitment to look at that situation and to eܫnsure that any such wrongs are righted.”

This is the second time in two years that Penske has been caught in a cheating scandal aಞfter it was found that all three of its drivers,🐭 including Scott McLaughlin, had the push-to-pass boost available to them at race starts and restarts in the 2024 St Petersburg race.

This was down to an illegal software that Penske was using, and it resulted in IndyCar disqualifying both race winner Newgarde📖n and podium finisher McLaughlin from the race. Po🌺wer escaped sanction as he didn’t use the P2P button in any restricted zone.

The latest controversy has led to further calls for൲ IndyCar to separate the offici꧋ating process and le🅰t an independent body run the regulatory side of the series.

🤡In response to the drama, recent༺ly-appointed IndyCar president Dough Boles explained that Roger Penske has a limited role in the day-to-day running of the championship.

He also reve𒅌aled that Roger Penske was ‘devastated’ to hear that his team had been caught 💟running an illegal part in qualifying for the Indy 500.

“I don’t think Roger Penske understands some of the things that might be goin꧟g on,” Boles said.

“I get the optics challenge, 💜and it’s definitely something we should think 🌳about.

“While (issues) roll up to Roger at the end of the day, I think they are certainly below him. There areཧ things that happen that don’t ever get to Roger.

“I can tell you that Roger Penske would not cond꧋one this. In fact, I had a chance to talk to Roger,﷽ and I can tell that this is devastating to him.

"Nothing means more to Roger Penske than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway a♊nd the Indianapolis 500. This 👍is something that I think he’s going to have to address at some point in time.”

Penske issued a s♚tatement ꦕfollowing Monday’s sanctions.

“We accept the penalties issued today by the IndyCar Series which are due to a “body fi🍒t” violation that occurred prior to the qualifying session yesterday,” it stated.

“We are disap🦂pointed by the results and the impact it has on our organization.

“We will make further announc🐽ements later this week related to personne♈l for the upcoming Indianapolis 500.”