Colton Herta’s quick thinking saved the Andretti Global driver from losing a significant amount of time when he stalled the engine on Sunday at Portland. It also opened an interesting conversation within the NTT IndyCar Series that will lead to changes.

Herta’s final pit stop was going according to plan until his engine coughed and died as he attempted to pull away in the No. 26 Honda. Running fourth and in contention for a podium finish, the stalled engine could have ruined his chances to hold onto a strong result.

But thanks to his fast hands, Herta reached for the switch on the bulkhead that instructs the energy recovery system — the motor generator unit, specifically — to spin the Honda’s crankshaft and fire the 2.2-liter twin-turbo V6 engine and launch from his pit box before the No. 26 crew were able to manually start its Honda.

Unfortunately for Herta, flicking the self-starting switch into the upward position while on pit lane is not allowed.

The disallowance of ERS use in any capacity on pit lane, from harvesting energy to starting the car to operating in full electric mode, is governed by two rules, and Herta’s infraction was covered by the second, Rule 14.23.1.8 published prior to the first hybrid race at Mid-Ohio in July, which states, “Hybrid engine start use on Pit Lane is not allowed at any time without prior approval from IndyCar. External starters only.”

Having spotted the illegal self-starting, IndyCar penalized Herta and ordered him to surrender track position to the car that was behind him — a lapped car — which was the equivalent of forfeiting approximately five seconds, which is the estimated time savings from using the MGU instead of waiting for a crew member to plug the external starter into the car and run through the manual process.

After the race, Herta said he didn’t know Rule 14.23.1.8 existed.

“We had a little bit of a moment in pit lane where I must’ve just slipped the clutch a little too quick and the car just died right there,” he said. “Then, I wasn’t aware that you couldn’t start the car on pit lane, so we picked up a little bit of a time penalty and had to drop back.”

In speaking with a few other drivers after the race, there was a general sense of confusion and surprise at what Herta was able to do; most were unaware that it was possible to start their own cars while on pit lane.

At the first hybrid event in Mid-Ohio and the second at the Iowa doubleheader, IndyCar’s race control team was busy remotely deactivating and activating the ERS units as drivers entered and departed pit lane. As with race control’s ability to turn the push-to-pass system on and off through signals sent to the cars through the MyLaps timing system, the stewards use the same MyLaps communication pathway to take ERS usage away when drivers reach the pit-in line and give usage back once they cross the pit-out line.