The final appeal by Chevrolet against IndyCar's decision to allow Honda to upgrade the turbochargers in their engines been denied by retired Indiana Supreme Court Justice Theodore R. Boehm.
The decision is final and binding, and cannot be further appealed.
It means that Honda will be able to continue using the new 0.71 A/R compressor cover for their single turbocharger system for the rest of 2012, after having been initially introduced at Sao Paulo.
Honda originally wanted to introduce the upgrade at Long Beach and were given clearance to do so by IZOD
IndyCar Series officials. However, Chevrolet subsequently lodged an official protest against the decision that forced Honda to roll back the change before the California street race.
The protest lead to a formal review of the decision after the Long Beach race by IndyCar's vice president of technology Will Phillips, together with Tony Cotman who is the project manager responsible for overseeing the development of the new chassis and engine specifications for 2012. Both men concluded that Honda's proposed change was within the series rules.
Chevrolet then exercised their option to force a formal appeals hearing that was finally held on Thursday, April 26, in which a three-person panel again concluded by endorsing IndyCar's original decision on the matter. Chevrolet went on to exercise its right of final appeal, and IndyCar's president of operations and strategy Brian Barnhart appointed Justice Boehm to hear the appeal and make the binding adjudication.
The final appeal hearing was conducted in
Indianapolis on May 9, with Justice Boehm then taking two further days to consider the evidence before publishing his ruling on Friday afternoon.
"We are pleased that Justice Boehm's ruling has again confirmed IndyCar's initial step to address parity of the Series-mandated single and twin turbochargers," said Steve Eriksen, vice president of development at Honda's American motor racing subsidiary, after the ruling was announced. "We eagerly look forward to continuing our battle with Chevrolet and Lotus as practice sessions for the
Indianapolis 500, 'The Greatest Spectacle in Racing', begin this weekend."
Throughout the process, Honda has contended that the series rulebook had been written with the express intention of allowing the engine suppliers to make changes during the season to ensure parity between engines using single BorgWarner turbocharger units (as Honda engines do) and those that use the twin turbo system (such as Chevrolet and Lotus' units.)
It was clear from early in the 2012 season that Honda's engine was underperforming compared with the Chevrolet, whose cars have won all four street and road course races so far this year. Honda duly sought permission to change the compressor cover to increase the power of the engine and its throttle responsiveness to put them on an even footing.
"This has been IndyCar's intention ever since the matter first came under discussion in late 2010," added Honda.