INDIANAPOLIS — IndyCar officials made last-minute changes to cars Sunday before qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 in response to another crash in which a car flipped.
Ed Carpenter's car crashed and turned upside down Saturday morning during the opening minutes of practice before qualifying. On-track action was halted for repairs to the fence and for a meeting among Verizon IndyCar Series officials and team leaders.
After the meeting, IndyCar ordered teams to lower turbocharger boost levels to their pre-qualifying levels, a move that is expected to drop speeds below 230 mph. On Friday, teams were allowed to increase boost, which increased power by 40 to 50 horsepower for the weekend's qualifying sessions.
Teams also were ordered to compete in the May 24 race with the same aerodynamic trim used in qualifying. That's expected to force teams away from low-downforce qualifying setups and further reduce speeds in both qualifying and the 99th running of the race.
Qualifying was scheduled to begin at 3:15 p.m. ET, and the Fast Nine Shootout has been scrapped, officials said. No championship points will be awarded for qualifying.
"We've mandated that what you start qualifying with, you must race," said Derrick Walker, INDYCAR president of competition and operations. "That rule alone will cause the manufacturers to select certain components that are biased toward the race, which in effect will give them more downforce, which is really part of the exercise we're going through here. We're adding more downforce and reducing the engine power."
Carpenter's car was the third Chevrolet since Wednesday to turn upside down after contacting the wall. Helio Castroneves flipped dramatically during practice Wednesday. On Thursday, Carpenter's CFH Racing teammate Josef Newgarden turned over after hitting the wall. Then, minutes into Sunday's warmup before qualifying, Carpenter's car slammed into the wall and rolled over.
None of the drivers was injured, but the third similar crash of a Chevrolet car prompted the meeting and the changes.
At issue are new speedway aero kits — a collection of more than 100 pieces of bodywork added to the standard Dallara DW12 that was designed and built by the series' two engine manufacturers, Honda and Chevrolet. Aero kits were introduced this season, and teams have been using aero kits designed for road courses and short ovals at the first five races this season — all on road or street courses.
This is the first time teams have used aero kits specific to speedways; the first time they were tested en masse was May 3, the opening day of practice for the Indy 500.
"This may be being done with an abundance of caution, but these are increasing speeds," said Mark Miles, chief executive officer of Hulman & Co., which operates INDYCAR and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. "We hope to go faster, but we're going to do so being responsible. Safety is the first priority. I think that's understood, generally speaking, in the paddock."
Team Penske president Tim Cindric conceded, "the facts are that you have really had one brand have an impact and the other one really hasn't" but Honda fell in line politically with the move. Honda Performance Development president Art St.Cyr, said in a statement:
"Even though we have every confidence in our design, we support INDYCAR in their efforts to improve safety."
Honda team executives like Bobby Rahal espoused safety consideration preceding the premier event of the IndyCar season. Honda owners publicly fell in line.
"No one can definitively say – Chevrolet can't definitively say, nor anybody else – if this was just freak accidents," Rahal told USA TODAY Sports. "Right now, every time somebody gets backwards it happens. I don't think anybody wants to risk killing some guy because every time one of these things gets up into a fence, chances are there you're going to hurt a driver.
"I don't think anybody wants to risk that. … Nobody can definitive say it wouldn't happen to a Honda if it got backwards. If not somebody would say, 'Oh, (Honda) paid the penalty.' I would sure rather pay that penalty than somebody getting hurt."
Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver Paul Dana was killed after being involved in a morning warm-up crash before the 2006 season-opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Cindric said the changes do not precipitate a "start-over" after six practice sessions this month. The only difference in qualifying, he said, would be the use of an especially low rear-wing angle.
"This is the same configuration that basically we've worked on for race work, so we're familiar with the configuration," he told USA TODAY Sports. "It's definitely going to be more downforce than what we've been trying to qualify. So in the sense it should make it more predictable and more stable to get through your four laps."
Jim Campbell, Chevrolet's U.S. Vice President Performance Vehicles and Motorsports, said via statement:
"Chevrolet met with IndyCar this morning and the decision was made to run race-level aerodynamics and engine boost during qualifying in an effort to reduce speeds and increase downforce. We continue to review all available data from the crashes. Safety is our priority."
Rahal epitomized the outward mood of much of Gasoline Alley with wanting to move on after the series and manufacturers spent nearly four hours formulating a response to a problem Walker said didn't exist Friday.
"Is it fair? I don't know," Rahal said. "Come race day the most competitive car will win and that's really why we're here."
Shortly before qualifying was postponed because of rain Saturday, Castroneves — with help from the additional turbo boost — recorded the fastest lap of the month (233.474 mph) during practice. The single-lap qualifying record at Indianapolis is 237.498 mph set in 1996 by Arie Luyendyk.
Just before Carpenter crashed Sunday, Scott Dixon had the fastest lap of the 31 cars on track — 233.001 mph. Carpenter, who was simulating a four-lap qualifying run when he crashed, had recorded the third-fastest lap of the session — 231.806 mph.
"The car felt good — a lot better than yesterday," Carpenter said. "We've seen the data, and it just went. I wish I knew why it happened. We don't know that part yet."
Contributing: Brant James
