Three-time race winner and team boss Ed Carpenter will make his Circuit of the Americas debut in the IndyCar iRacing Challenge this weekend.
Carpenter has only contested oval events since the 2014 season, and therefore will be making his circuit debut at the track this weekend. His last outing on a road course was Houston in 2013.
Guess who is back to being a rookie this weekend! @edcarpenter20’s first full-time @IndyCar season was in 2004, his first appearance at @cota_official is in 2020! He has never driven anything at COTA before so this weekend’s #INDYCARChallenge will be an entirely new experience! pic.twitter.com/V0zxuSlKQ1
— Ed Carpenter Racing (@ECRIndy) April 23, 2020
Having started Ed Carpenter Racing in 2012, his last win was at Texas in 2014. He will partner Conor Daly and last week’s debutant Rinus VeeKay in a three-car team.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver Spencer Pigot was one of the last remaining real-life drivers to be absent from the esports series, but will make his debit this weekend.
.@SpencerPigot and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing With @CitroneBuhl will make our virtual debut in the #INDYCARChallenge at @COTA on Saturday 🙌🏼
🏎 No. 45 #MiJack / @EmbracePGH #IndyCar | @iRacing pic.twitter.com/J1W7nsjHlu
— Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (@RLLracing) April 23, 2020
Joining them will be McLaren Formula 1 driver Lando Norris, who got his first practice time underway on Wednesday ahead of making his first appearance in the series driving for the Arrow McLaren SP squad.
I’ve never seen someone actually copy word for word for so long. Interesting read tho if your bored 😁 https://t.co/lLlIHaEiUj
— Lando Norris (@LandoNorris) April 23, 2020
Andretti Australian tin-top driver Chaz Mostert is also contesting this weekend’s event, while Alexander Rossi will go the other way and drive in the Supercars Esports championship next week.
The IndyCar iRacing Challenge was introduced to fill the gap while the championship’s real-life series is in hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Sage Karam and Scott McLaughlin won the first two rounds on road courses Watkins Glen and Barber Motorsports Park, while Simon Pagenaud has won the last two events on oval courses, Michigan and Motegi.
