IndyCar announces rule changes for 2015 season

This year, the series awarded double points at the three 500-mile events at Indianapolis, Pocono and Fontana, however for next year this has been reduced to just two: the Indianapolis 500 and Sonoma, the new venue for the final round.

"We looked at the new calendar and analysed how many cars would be in contention for the championship after certain events, " said Derrick Walker, IndyCar's president of competition and operations.

"The best trend with multiple cars racing for the championship was weighting it for the final race and the Indy 500, which is a special race deserving of double points,"

Winners of the double-point events in 2015 will be awarded 100 points, with second place earning 80, and 70 for third.

From there, the scale drops to 10 points for 25th-place and lower. Bonus points will continue to be awarded for most laps led (two), leading at least one lap (one) and pole position at all events other than Indy (one).

The Indy 500 will continue to run a bespoke qualifying system in which all participants will earn points via the multi-tiered qualification process, with an additional nine on offer for the pole winner.

Walker said that IndyCar's standing starts experiment had taught the series that neither the circuits nor the launch systems on the cars were well-suited to the format, although he remains open to the possibility of a return in the future.

"Most of the tracks we run on... few meet the space criteria for our cars, which are bigger than most formula cars," Walker said.

"And there is some development needed with the launch.

"I wouldn't say it's out of the picture for the future. We know the fans enjoy it, and we love it, too."

Other changes include a modification to the manufacturer points, which will now only be awarded to the top three instead of the top five.

Additional points will be available to manufacturers who achieve the 2500 mile threshold (10), earn pole at the Indy 500 (nine), earn pole at the other events (one), and leading the most laps (two).

"We don't want the manufacturer championship to be a contest that is solely about whether you can dominate the grid with the number of cars in your lineup," said Walker.

Test day allocations have been modified, with teams now being charged four days from their 14-day allocation for Promoter Days (formerly known as Open Tests) at Barber, St Petersburg, NOLA, the IMS road course and Mid-Ohio.

The Barber test in March will be the first group session with the new aero kits, while the other four days immediately precede race weekends in order to reduce costs and add additional spectating opportunities for fans.

There have also been tweaks to the Indy 500 rookie orientation process, with each speed phase of the programme having been raised by 5mph, as well as a minor modifications to the pitlane allocation procedure for entries that change drivers between events.