The NTT IndyCar Series has given a penalty to the #26 Andretti Global entry of Colton Herta following this past weekend’s event at The Thermal Club.
A post-race inspection found that the car’s anti-intrusion plates were incorrectly attached, leading to a potential safety issue with the car.
Details of the technical infringement were released by the series on Wednesday.
“During post-race technical inspection Sunday, IndyCar discovered the team incorrectly attached the anti-intrusion plates on the aft leg of the front lower wishbones by using only one plate per side of the chassis instead of the two per side (a total of four), which were mandated in a Dallara bulletin released Feb. 14, 2025.”
The anti-intrusion panels have been mandatory since 2015 and are meant to prevent broken pieces of the suspension from entering the safety cell of the cockpit during a crash.
Because the issue was not due to driver error and was not a performance advantage, but rather a product of the team’s preparation of the car, Herta himself was not given a penalty.
He keeps the 32 driver points he received for finishing in fourth place on Sunday and was not disqualified from the results.
Andretti Global was given a fine for $25,000, however, and will forfeit 10 entrant points and all prize money associate with the race.
“We have received the penalty notice for Car 26 at Thermal and have discussed the findings with IndyCar,” read Andretti’s statement regarding the penalty.
“While we disagree with the assessment, we will accept the penalty and move forward.”
Herta remains in eighth position in the driver points standings after two rounds of the 2025 season, but the #26 entry falls to 10th in the entrant standings.
