AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci claimed a career-best second-place finish at the Chevrolet Detroit GP, securing his first-ever IndyCar podium. However, the result came under scrutiny after officials discovered an underweight ballast on his No. 14 car.
IndyCar regulations require a combined driver and ballast weight of 185 lbs (83.91 kg) to ensure parity across the field, preventing lighter drivers from gaining a competitive edge. Although Ferrucci, 27, retains his podium result, AJ Foyt Racing faces penalties for breaching Rule 14.4.2 of the NTT IndyCar Series Rulebook.
According to an IndyCar press release posted on Monday, the No. 14 car exceeded the minimum weight requirement for street and road courses—1,785 lbs (809.66 kg)—by 10 lbs (4.54 kg). Despite this, the team violated Rule 14.4.2, which outlines strict guidelines for driver equivalency weight.
Rule 14.4.2.2 states:
“Driver Equivalency Weight must bring the combined weight of the Driver and Driver ballast to 185 pounds.”
Rule 14.4.2.5 adds:
“The Driver ballast weight tolerance is 0.00 to +1.00 pounds. The Driver Equivalency Weight must be installed and secured in the designed location forward of the seatback. This location may only be used for Driver ballast.”
As a result, AJ Foyt Racing has been fined $25,000, docked 25 championship points, and stripped of a bonus point for leading a lap. The No. 14 car is now ineligible for engine points and prize money. The penalties leave Ferrucci 14th in the NTT IndyCar Series championship standings.
Ferrucci’s feelings after the Detroit GP
Ferrucci celebrated his first podium finish at the Detroit GP, telling the media that “It feels great.”
“Honestly, the strategy plays into everything that we do, especially at road and street courses it’s very tough, and I can’t thank the team enough. This is more deserving of them than it is even of me. We probably drove to 11th minus the strategy just running our race.”
He praised his crew for their pit decisions, adding, “Mike and Adam, C.J., they all made great calls on the stand to pit us when they did and got lucky with the yellow when it came out, cycled us to the front action. I had no idea I was the leader because there was cars going around the pace car in front of me, and then they stopped me, and I was like, oh, well, this is a pleasant surprise. So it was pretty cool.”
