Andretti Global penalized following Herta inspection failure

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Colton Herta finished fourth at Thermal, just missing out on a podium, but unfortunately, an issue was found with the No. 26 Andretti Global Honda in post-race technical inspection.

Per IndyCar, 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. As of February of 2025, two plates must be used on each side.

This is a safety issue, as the plates guard against objects penetrating the cockpit. The concept was first introduced a decade ago following James Hinchcliffe’s 2015 accident at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While taking part in practice ahead of the Indy 500, Hinchcliffe slammed the outside wall and a broken suspension piece pushed its way into cockpit with Hinchcliffe suffering life-threatening injuries.

Colton Herta, Andretti Global

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

As a result of this infraction, Andretti has been fined $25,000 and forfeits all purse winnings from Thermal. They also lost ten championship points, dropping Herta’s No. 26 machine from eighth to tenth in the standings. However, the driver standings are not impacted by this as the penalties have been assessed to the team only.

Andretti Global released the following statement, reacting to the news: “We have a received the penalty notice for Car #26 at Thermal and have discussed the findings with IndyCar. While we disagree with the assessment, we will accept the penalty and move forward.”