Kiwi motorcycle ace Scott McLaughlin second in IndyCar’s first virtual race on an oval

Simon Pagenaud has won IndyCar’s first virtual race in an oval, with Kiwi Supercars star Scott McLaughlin an impressive second.

The result comes immediately after winning the opening round of the Supercars All Star Eseries virtual series, where the Kiwi proves to be just as good as it is in real life.

IndyCar’s virtual return to Michigan International Speedway mimicked the US 500 early on, when current open-wheel racing stars mishandled the green flag and triggered a spectacular crash.

The accident in the opening seconds of the Chevrolet 275 iRacing event gave the last event a feeling of recoil. When CART fractured and IndyCar was born, CART teams boycotted the Indianapolis 500 Miles and ran in Michigan instead. The 1996 alternative race started with a huge accident that only pointed out the absurdity of the division in American open wheel racing.

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So when multiple cars crashed even before reaching the virtual start / end line, IndyCar was briefly battling for the reset button.

“Stay with us, boys! Stay with us!” Driver Conor Daly pleaded on his streaming service as iRacing officials resolved the disaster.

“It’s going to be great. Once the McLaren cars have crashed,” Daly promised.

The virtual cleanup took time as drivers pressed control of the race to delay the green so they could finish their trailer and return to the field. An official finally told them to shut up.

“The show is more important than where they end the race. Sorry, we will make a report after the race,” an iRacing driver told the drivers, adding that no more precautions would be called.

And they tried again with the third round of this series of virtual races created to give content to IndyCar during the sporting closure of the coronavirus pandemic. The IndyCar season was suspended 48 hours before its scheduled opening.

Michigan marked the first oval track on the IndyCar virtual calendar and current Indianapolis 500 Mile winner Simon Pagenaud won the race. IndyCar has not really run in Michigan since 2007, and only five of the drivers in the virtual return had run the track before.

“This is the most stressful thing I’ve ever felt in a race car,” Pagenaud said without a hint of sarcasm.

He competed wearing his royal fire costume and his wife handed him a congratulatory bottle of champagne when the Frenchman took the virtual checkered flag.

The race featured a special appearance by the avid iRacer and new NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Dale Earnhardt Jr, who pressed for an invitation and received one from IndyCar to join the field. As he slid into his race simulator, broadcast live on NBC Sports, they showed off their skills and experience in the game in Michigan.

Earnhardt finished in a surprising third place, behind the Team Penske duo of Pagenaud and McLaughlin, winner of last week’s iRacing event at virtual Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama.

“I was trying in the end to stop Dale Jr, I never thought I would say that,” said McLaughlin, the current SuperCars champion who races from a simulator in Brisbane at local sunrise time.

Earnhardt saved fuel and used patience to achieve a podium.

“I had a lot of fun competing with all of those guys, a lot of them were very telling about how the strategy worked after that crash,” Earnhardt said. “The fastest cars probably didn’t win today, and the best SIM racers probably didn’t.” Don’t win today. ”

Earnhardt said he would return to compete in an IndyCar iRace, especially if it is an oval, and put pressure on both Daytona and Indianapolis.

Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson did not play in the first week. Johnson entered the first two IndyCar events while planning for future real IndyCar races, but said he will not compete with ovals in an Indy car in real life, a sentiment that seemingly carried over into his simulated car.

The field had a whopping 31 participants, the majority in this series, as Andretti Autosport achieved its full driver lineup in the race. Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay made their IndyCar iRacing debut, along with James Davison and Max Chilton, who stopped competing with ovals in real life in the middle of last season.

Robert Wickens was on the field for the second week in a row after initial problems getting him a simulator and steering wheel that he could control with his hands. Wickens injured his spinal cord in a 2018 accident and needed a special wheel in order to participate. Max Papis’ company sent him one he was able to connect to use in Michigan for a 26th position.

Sage Karam won IndyCar’s first iRacing event and led the most laps at Michigan, but took the lead for fuel with 14 laps remaining. Will Power inherited the lead, but he also had to stop, and Pageanuad lunged for her.