INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — IndyCar officials announced Tuesday they will no longer consider the running order or the pit windows to determine when to throw a full-course caution flag.
It's the second rule change officials have made since the series moved to Indianapolis for the month of May, though this one won't affect the series biggest race — the Indianapolis 500 on May 24 — since there are no local yellows on oval courses.
The move comes three days after an angry Alexander Rossi criticized race officials for not immediately throwing a full-course caution when his No. 20 car stalled on the front straightaway next to a concrete wall and out of the standard racing line on Lap 21 of the Indianapolis Grand Prix.
Rossi, the 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner, eventually climbed out of the car and over the wall separating pit lane from the race track and walked to his pit stall.
Race officials initially responded by throwing a local yellow to alert other drivers to the stalled car near the track's start-finish line before throwing a full-course caution on Lap 22.
Series officials said Tuesday the initial decision was based on a standard set of considerations that will remain in place and two that will not — pit windows and running order — moving forward.
“The Lap 21 incident on Saturday made clear there needs to be a cleaner standard for how race control moves from a local to a full course yellow,” said Raj Nair, chairman of the series' Independent Officiating Board. “IndyCar Officiating, with IndyCar’s full support, has made this change of approach to ensure that the only inputs to the full course yellow escalation are safety ones.”
The decision came just hours before Rossi and 32 other drivers were to begin practice for this month's Indianapolis 500.
“The most important job in race control is to ensure the safety of our drivers, crews, safety workers and fans,” IndyCar President Doug Boles said. “Saturday highlighted that we must not waver from that central mission and aligning everyone on that philosophy was critical to discuss over the last 48 hours.”
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
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