IndyCar iRacing Challenge

The IndyCar iRacing Challenge (stylized as INDYCAR iRacing Challenge) was a series of esports events held as a temporary replacement of the suspended 2020 IndyCar Series due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The series was run on the platform of iRacing.[1] The virtual races were broadcast on various IndyCar social media channels. Additionally, all races, but the first one, were broadcast live on NBCSN.[2][3]

INDYCAR iRacing Challenge
2020
Tournament information
SportIndyCar
Dates28 March 2020–2 May 2020
AdministratorIndyCar
Host(s)iRacing
Final positions
ChampionNew Zealand Scott McLaughlin
2021 →

The races featured full time and part time drivers currently on the Indycar grid. They also featured guest drivers from other racing series' like Formula One and NASCAR.[4][5]

Teams and Drivers

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Team No. Driver(s) Round(s)
A. J. Foyt Enterprises 4   Sébastien Bourdais All
14   Tony Kanaan All
41   Dalton Kellett All
Andretti Autosport 26   Zach Veach All
27   Alexander Rossi All
28   Kyle Kirkwood 1-2
  Ryan Hunter-Reay 3-6
29   James Hinchcliffe All
39   Scott Speed 6
Andretti Herta Autosport w/ Marco Andretti & Curb-Agajanian 98 1-2
  Marco Andretti 3-4, 6
  Chaz Mostert 5
Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport 88   Colton Herta All
Arrow McLaren SP
04   Lando Norris 5-6
5   Patricio O'Ward All
6   Robert Wickens 4
7   Oliver Askew All
Carlin 31   Conor Daly 6
  Felipe Nasr 3-5
59 1-2
  Max Chilton 3-6
Chip Ganassi Racing 8   Marcus Ericsson All
9   Scott Dixon 2-6
10   Felix Rosenqvist All
Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh 55   Álex Palou All
Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan 18   Santino Ferrucci All
Dale Coyne Racing with Byrd & Belardi 33   James Davison 3, 6
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 24   Sage Karam All
Ed Carpenter Racing 20   Ed Carpenter 6
  Conor Daly 1-5
21   Rinus VeeKay 4-6
  Ed Carpenter 2-3
50 4-5
IndyCar Provisional 3   Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3
48   Jimmie Johnson 1-2
51   Kyle Busch 4
Juncos Racing 11   Kyle Kaiser 1-5
25   Stefan Wilson 6
Meyer Shank Racing 60   Jack Harvey 2-6
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 15   Graham Rahal All
30   Takuma Sato 4-6
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing with Citrone/Buhl Autosport 45   Spencer Pigot 5
Team Penske 1   Josef Newgarden All
12   Will Power All
22   Simon Pagenaud All
2   Scott McLaughlin 1-5
40 6
3   Hélio Castroneves 4
911 6
Top Gun Racing 99   RC Enerson 6

Schedule

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Rd. Date Race name Track Location
1 March 28 American Red Cross Grand Prix  R  Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen, New York
2 April 4 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama Presented by AmFirst  R  Barber Motorsports Park Birmingham, Alabama
3 April 11 Chevrolet 275  O  Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan
4 April 18 Firestone 175  O  Twin Ring Motegi Motegi, Japan
5 April 25 AutoNation IndyCar Challenge  R  Circuit of the Americas Austin, Texas
6 May 2 First Responder 175  O  Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana
Source:[6]
O Short oval/Superspeedway
R Road/street course

Results

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Rd. Race Pole position Fastest lap Most laps led Race Winner
Driver Team
1 Watkins Glen   Sage Karam   Will Power   Sage Karam   Sage Karam Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
2 Barber   Sage Karam   Felix Rosenqvist   Sage Karam   Scott McLaughlin Team Penske
3 Michigan   Marcus Ericsson   Dale Earnhardt Jr.   Sage Karam   Simon Pagenaud Team Penske
4 Motegi   Robert Wickens   Sage Karam   Will Power   Simon Pagenaud Team Penske
5 COTA   Lando Norris   Lando Norris   Lando Norris   Lando Norris Arrow McLaren SP
6 Indianapolis   Scott McLaughlin   Stefan Wilson   Will Power   Scott McLaughlin Team Penske
Source:[7][8][9][10][11][12]

Driver Standings

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Pos Driver WGI ALA MIS MOT COTA INDY Pts
1   Scott McLaughlin 4 1L 2 24 4 1L 213
2   Will Power 3L 2 4L 3L* 6L 14L* 195
3   Simon Pagenaud 6 5 1L 1L 14 25L 182
4   Felix Rosenqvist 2 6L 21 14 3 9 152
5   Santino Ferrucci 8 10 23 9 5 3 138
6   Sage Karam 1L* 23L* 14L* 7L 33 27L 120
7   Graham Rahal 14 14 5 10 17 13L 113
8   Conor Daly 10 23 13 11 29 2 108
9   Marcus Ericsson 18 25 19L 4L 8 11L 107
10   Patricio O'Ward 13 24 25 26 2L 5 104
11   Álex Palou 20 4 10L 22 9L 26L 100
12   Scott Dixon 16 30 2 11L 10 99
13   Oliver Askew 5 15 31 21L 28 4L 98
14   Josef Newgarden 7 9 24 15L 10 22 98
15   Zach Veach 19 19 11L 8L 26 8 96
16   Jack Harvey 28 6 6L 16 18 88
17   Alexander Rossi 17 22 7L 28 15 12 86
18   Dalton Kellett 11 11 16 19 18 31 80
19   Sébastien Bourdais 23 13 20 20 24 6L 79
20   Colton Herta 22 7 28 18 13 32 73
21   Ryan Hunter-Reay 8L 16 31 7 70
22   Robert Wickens 8 26 5L 32 DNQ 66
23   Lando Norris 1L* 21 64
24   Scott Speed 21 3 15 61
25   Ed Carpenter 18 9 17 22 28 60
26   Felipe Nasr 15 29 17L 31 12 DNQ 57
27   Kyle Kaiser 12 21 12 27 27 DNQ 55
28   Tony Kanaan 24 26 18 30 23 33 40
29   Rinus Veekay 23 7 24 39
30   Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3 35
31   Kyle Kirkwood 9 20 32
32   Jimmie Johnson 16 12 32
33   James Hinchcliffe DNS 17 22 DNS 19 30 28
34   Takuma Sato 12 30 30 28
35   James Davison 15 19 27
36   Max Chilton 27 32 21 23 26
37F   Marco Andretti 29 25 17 23
38   Hélio Castroneves 29 16 19
39   Kyle Busch 13 DNQ 17
40   Chaz Mostert 20 10
  RC Enerson 20 10
42   Spencer Pigot 25 DNQ 5
42   Stefan Wilson 29 5
Pos Driver WGI ALA MIS MOT COTA INDY Pts
Color Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd-place finish
Bronze 3rd-place finish
Green Top 5 finish
Light Blue Top 10 finish
Dark Blue Other flagged position
Purple Did not finish
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Brown Withdrew (Wth)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did Not Start (DNS)
Race abandoned (C)
Blank Did not participate
In-line notation
Bold Pole position
(1 point; except Indy)
Italics Ran fastest race lap
L Led race lap
(1 point)
* Led most race laps
(2 points)

Indianapolis race controversy

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The final race of the series, the First Responder 175, saw a driving standards controversy. With nine laps to go in the race, Simon Pagenaud had been leading, only for him to run into the wall. Pagenaud pitted following the crash and while on the pits, told over the radio "We take out Lando [Norris], let's do it", in reference to an earlier incident they had during the race. With two laps to go, Pagenaud, who was slowing down, promptly collided with Norris, who was leading at the time of the incident. Heading into the finish line, Santino Ferrucci took a hard left into then-leader Oliver Askew, who flipped; Scott McLaughlin crossed the finish line, from the pole.[13]

Both Pagenaud and Ferrucci received criticism for their poor conduct during the race. Norris alleged that Pagenaud did so in order to prevent a non-IndyCar Series regular from winning the race;[14] McLaren CEO Zak Brown tweeted that what Pagenaud did was not something expected from a former Indy 500 champion. Pagenaud insisted that he only intended to impede Norris, while his spotter Ben Bretzman denied instructing Pagenaud to crash into Norris.[15] Ferrucci, in denying that his collision was deliberate, claimed that his collision at the end of the last lap was an attempt at a NASCAR-style side drafting, although during the stream he quipped that his clash was "worth it" and he did it "for the fans".[16] Although iRacing's sporting code explicitly prohibited deliberate behavior, iRacing did not penalize both drivers, as it was deemed as a private league organized by INDYCAR themselves, rather than iRacing;[13] INDYCAR themselves did not issue penalties for both Pagenaud or Ferrucci. Motorsport journalist Marshall Pruett later confirmed that an unnamed party involved in the incidents had also received death threats.[17]

References

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  1. ^ "IndyCar iRacing Challenge announced". Racer. 20 March 2020.
  2. ^ "IndyCar lands NBC Sports to broadcast second iRacing Challenge event on Saturday at Barber". Indystar. 1 April 2020.
  3. ^ "2020 - INDYCAR IRACING CHALLENGE". Indycar. 2 May 2020.
  4. ^ "McLaren's Norris to race in IndyCar iRacing at COTA". Racer. 22 April 2020.
  5. ^ "Dale Earnhardt Jr. to Race the No. 3 in IndyCar iRacing Challenge". Racer. 8 April 2020.
  6. ^ "2020 - INDYCAR IRACING CHALLENGE". Indycar. 2 May 2020.
  7. ^ "OFFICIAL BOX SCORE - INDYCAR iRacing Challenge - American Red Cross Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International" (PDF). Indycar. 28 March 2020.
  8. ^ "OFFICIAL BOX SCORE - INDYCAR iRacing Challenge - Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by AmFirst" (PDF). Indycar. 4 April 2020.
  9. ^ "OFFICIAL BOX SCORE - INDYCAR iRacing Challenge - Chevrolet 275 at Michigan International Speedway" (PDF). Indycar. 11 April 2020.
  10. ^ "OFFICIAL BOX SCORE - INDYCAR iRacing Challenge - Firestone 175 at Twin Ring Motegi" (PDF). Indycar. 18 April 2020.
  11. ^ "OFFICIAL BOX SCORE - INDYCAR iRacing Challenge - AutoNation INDYCAR Challenge at Circuit of The Americas" (PDF). Indycar. 25 April 2020.
  12. ^ "OFFICIAL BOX SCORE - INDYCAR iRacing Challenge - First Responder 175 presented by GMR" (PDF). Indycar. 2 May 2020.
  13. ^ a b Weaver, Matt (2020-05-02). "Last-Lap Chaos Ends with Scott McLaughlin Winning IndyCar iRacing Finale". Autoweek. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
  14. ^ "Simon Pagenaud under fire for wiping out Lando Norris at Indy". Eurosport. 2020-05-03. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
  15. ^ Weaver, Matt (2020-05-03). "McLaren's Lando Norris, Zak Brown Condemn Simon Pagenaud for Poor iRacing Sportsmanship". Autoweek. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
  16. ^ Kalaf, Samer (2022-05-12). "The Anger Over a Virtual IndyCar Crash Exposed the Fragile Facade of Competition". Slate.com. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
  17. ^ Pruett, Marshall [@marshallpruett] (May 5, 2020). "I've been told at least one of the drivers involved in Saturday's iRacing drama at IMS have received threats against their lives via social media direct message. Come on, man" (Tweet) – via Twitter.