The new IZOD IndyCar Series Race Director Beaux Barfield has circulated the first draft of the newly-revised 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series rulebook to teams.
IndyCar's new president of competition and race director Beaux Barfield has issued the first draft of the document outlining the latest sporting and technical regulations for the series in 2012.
The new rules take on board lessons learned from controversial events during 2011 such as the New Hampshire Motor Speedway race, as well as recommendations from the official report into the fatal accident at the season finale in Las Vegas in October.
There is also provision for a new manufacturers' championship, now that Honda has been joined in the series as an engine supplier by Chevrolet and Lotus.
For Barfield, it's his first opportunity to put his stamp on the series since
assuming the role at the start of the year, taking over from Brian Barnhart.
"For me, it's important that certain rules make sense for my style," said Barfield, who stressed that he also didn't want to cut back the rules too far and leave gaps, loopholes and oversights in the process and that the process had been much more of a review than a ground-up rewrite.
Adding that he was "being careful to not cut out too many elements that have value," he said: "There's a lot of heritage to these rules that you want to preserve and make sure you don't create any pitfalls by getting rid of items."
Barfield explained that any rulebook has to be a balance of the needs of the teams and of the series organisers. "A rulebook is written to protect the rights of its competitors and empower the officials," he said. "I'm confident that we've created the proper balance with this rulebook moving forward this season."
Among the specific changes to the rules are a new instant messaging system between Race Control and all the participants of an event with team managers able to contact Race Control directly. A failure of communication was specifically blamed for the heavily criticised decision by Race Control to attempt a restart in New Hampshire despite the fact that it was still raining at the time.
As recommended in the
Vegas accident report, a minimum of two Track Condition Radio steering wheel lights will also now be standard, complimenting additional audio and trackside visual cues alerting drivers to problems on the track.
