Newman/Haas and Target Ganassi Racing will present their cases for the top two finishing positions in an official hearing today in Indianapolis. The hearing, which is not open to the public, will take place at the offices of the law firm that represents Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corp., owners of IndyCar.
IndyCar president of competition Brian Barnhart will defend his decision to award the win to Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay after restarting the race in what he later admitted to be a mistake, due to the dangerously wet racing surface. Newman/Haas, whose driver Oriol Servia passed Hunter-Reay on the aborted restart, and Ganassi (whose driver Scott Dixon also passed Hunter-Reay for second) will attempt to convince the panel that Barnhart's decision to discount the results of the restart in the finale finishing order was contrary to the regulations.
The panelists include Jerry Gappens, the executive vp and general manager of New Hampshire Motor Speedway; USAC chairman Jeff Stoops, and former U.S. Auto Club chairman Rollie Helmling. Servia told the Indianapolis Star he is concerned about the presence of USAC officials on the panel, noting that in USAC racing, car positioning when a caution comes out reverts to the most recent green-flag lap.
"They have many reasons for that," he wrote a in a text message Monday to the Star. "Dirt (tracks), no cameras, no (scoring) timelines."
Although video replays appeared to show Servia and Dixon to have completed their passes under green, that might not be relevant to the outcome of the hearing, since the IndyCar rulebook extends significant latitude to the chief steward (Barnhart) in the officiating of races.