Robert Schwartzman’s No. 83 PREMA Racing car was penalised by IndyCar over an unapproved part which led to a fire during practice at Thermal Club, California.
The first practice around the Thermal Club was a difficult one for PREMA. Brand new to IndyCar for 2025, they’ve spent opening rounds trying to find their feet. However, they aren’t looking to slowly adjust to the sport – wanting to hit the ground running.
Robert Schwartzman not only joined a brand new IndyCar team but was also new to the NTT IndyCar series entirely. His first practice session was cut short when his No. 83 entry set on fire. Schwartzman got out of the car and the AMR safety team were quickly on hand to put out the fire.
The damage was extensive and PREMA had a slew of repairs to get through before the race. However, as IndyCar investigated the incident they found that Schwartzman’s emergency pull cable, which controls the fire supression system had failed to activate. This was due to it being an unapproved model of the pull cable.
IndyCar deemed that this was a massive safety risk and especially a violation of Rule 14.1.3: “All parts provided by an Approved Supplier must be used as supplied without modification unless otherwise approved by INDYCAR and stated in these Rules or in update bulletins.”
The ramifications
IndyCar released a statement saying, “According to the rulebook, the violation is considered a Non-Race Procedure Penalty (9.2.3.). Which includes the issuance of a monetary fine (9.2.3.2.) and the loss of points (9.2.3.5.).”
In this situation that resulted in a $25,000 fine and a 10 championship points deduction. This matches the fine and penalty that Colton Herta faced over a similar safety risk violation.
The No. 83 entry falls from 22nd in the Championship to 27th. With the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 13th, PREMA will be looking to make up ground from the struggles in St. Pete and penalties from Thermal Club.
