Prema’s Robert Shwartzman is suffering again after a very tough IndyCar round at Thermal Club. The newcomer team and driver have been handed the second penalisation of the weekend. The first penalty had been comminated to Andretti’s Colton Herta.
What happened on Friday?
The second one instead was related to what had happened during FP1. That, as in the accident which deprived the young Israeli drive of much needed practise running time.
In fact, his car no. 83 had caught fire during the first practise session, significantly destroying itself. Shwartzman then was forced to sit out the second practice session because of the repairs required. Prema mechanics had been hard at work overnight and had to build a new chassis.
“I felt the seat was getting heated up, and I looked in the mirror and there was smoke and fire coming, so I immediately stopped the car and jumped out,” the Prema driver had said recalling the terrible situation for Fox.
Luckily, the team had had the chance of completing a testing session beforehand. Shwartzman had been able to successfully take part in qualifying and score on Sunday.
During the incident, the IndyCar safety team had promptly intervened to put off the fire. However, during the post-race review of the matter, the series had found out that Prema had been involved in the severity of the accident.
A safety matter
Prema had been employing a non-approved fire suppression system activator on Shwartzman ‘s car during the IndyCar Thermal Club round. Thus for this reason the entry received a ten points penalisation and a hefty fine of $25’000. After the penalisation, car no. 83 drops from P22 to last in P27 in the entrants’ standings, whereas Shwartzman will be able to keep his points from the Thermal Club.
IndyCar challengers feature two different systems at the same time: a ring placed on the outer part of the car or a button as activators for the fire suppression system. Unfortunately, the Italian team, who is competing in the American championship for the first time was using a non-conform part for the external method.
Here is the complete announcement:
“During an investigation into the fire involving the No. 83 in Friday’s practice at The Thermal Club, IndyCar determined the required and approved emergency pull cable, which activates the onboard fire suppression system from outside the car, was not used as supplied and was replaced by the team with an unapproved product that failed to activate. According to the rulebook, the violation is considered a Non-Race Procedure Penalty (9.2.3.). This includes the issuance of a monetary fine (9.2.3.2.) and the loss of points (9.2.3.5.).”
