As first reported by The Race, IndyCar has confirmed the return of its iRacing Challenge – which will include a host of real-world stars including Romain Grosjean.
This year’s series will consist of three races – at non-IndyCar venues Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (March 18) and Homestead-Miami Speedway (March 25), followed by a fan-voted track on April 1 prior to the real season starting at Barber Motorsports Park on April 18.
On announcing the news, IndyCar has confirmed Ed Carpenter, Conor Daly, Grosjean, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Scott McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden, Pato O’Ward, Simon Pagenaud, Alex Palou, Will Power, Graham Rahal, Felix Rosenqvist and Takuma Sato will take part.
This season, one Road to Indy driver will also get to race in each contest.
Each race will be streamed live on IndyCar’s official website, along with the series’ YouTube channel and Facebook page. Drivers will also be able to stream the races via their personal channels while iRacing will stream races via YouTube.
Races will begin at 1800hrs Eastern Time, which translates to 2300hrs GMT.
Team strategists and engineers will also be allowed to take part again as they did last year, and each squad can design its livery to reflect real-world cars and their sponsors.
“The first season of the IndyCar iRacing Challenge definitely filled a competitive void that our drivers were missing last spring,” said IndyCar Vice President of Marketing SJ Luedtke.
“It captured many entertaining moments and helped set the stage for the return to competition on the track in real life.
“Season 2 will undoubtedly double down on those fun, colorful moments highlighting the personalities of our athletes and get our fans ready for the green flag on our 2021 season in Birmingham, Alabama.”
The INDYCAR @iRacing challenge is BACK!
Three races. March 25-April 1. Thursdays at 6:30PM EST.
Watch live on https://t.co/atq9EiKpfR.
Read: https://t.co/R5796cT0HW#INDYCARChallenge pic.twitter.com/aeowfrAIeW
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) March 11, 2021
Last year’s championship featured six races and happened while the world was locked down thanks to the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.
It featured the majority of the real-world field – as 2019 Indy 500 winner Pagenaud won two races – while a host of stars like future Penske driver McLaughlin, NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr and McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris took part.
What happened in last year’s series?
IndyCar part-timer but Coanda Simsport esports team regular Sage Karam was always expected to be the star of the show on any road courses and he won from pole in the Watkins Glen opener, also taking pole at Barber for the second race.
However, a clash while fighting for the lead with Felix Rosenqvist opened the door for Scott McLaughlin to use his alternate strategy to win an IndyCar race for Penske, before he’d even started a real life one!
McLaughlin’s team-mate Simon Pagenaud admitted to putting in five hours of practice a day and it was clear his team were working closely with their engineers, which paid off as Pagenaud won the next two races on ovals.
Dale Earnhardt Jr starred in the first at Michigan, taking a podium by staying well out of trouble but also showing speed with the fastest lap of the race.
After the Motegi oval – the second of Pagenaud’s wins – the series moved to Austin, where Norris joined the fray.
He scored pole but spun following a pitstop, and had to fight his way back from 12th, which he did and won anyway.
Norris stuck around to contest the 75-lap Indianapolis oval decider where he led again. However, an aggressive move at Turns 1 and 2 led to Graham Rahal being taken out of the race and he, in turn, wiped out Pagenaud.
Pagenaud didn’t take well to this and after rejoining, he slowed his car on the apex of Turn 4 as Norris came through with two laps to go, taking the McLaren driver out of the race.
There were five lead changes between Turn 3 on the final lap and the finish of the race. Patricio O’Ward was passed by Ericsson and then took Ericsson out.
Oliver Askew took the lead but was spun by Santino Ferrucci, leaving McLaughlin to come through and win plus take the series title had it been counting points.
