Simon Pagenaud claimed his second Esports victory in the IndyCar iRacing Challenge, crossing the line just ahead of Ganassi's Scott Dixon and his own Penske team mate Will Power after a dramatic conclusion to the Firestone 175.
“Today was a lot about tyre saving, the right strategy once again,” Pagenaud explained to NBC Sports after performing celebratory donuts on the start.finish line of the virtual Twin Ring Motegi circuit. "At the end it got a bit crazy!"
Pagenaud had started the race from ninth place on the 33-car grid, with Robert Wickens having claimed pole position for Arrows McLaren SP. After leading the first lap, Wickens was subsequently bumped off onto the grass in-section and spent the rest of the 113-lap race battling his way back up the order to finish in fifth.
Lap 13 saw Will Power emerge as the dominant force, leading for 36 laps until the first round of pit stops. Power was back in charge of proceedings by lap 56 but came under increasing pressure from Scott Dixon, despite the Kiwi having had very little online gaming experience before the lockdown.
The two continued jockeying for the lead, but both drivers eventually had to pit a second time for fuel and new tyres with Dixon losing time in the pits. Josef Newgarden took to the front on an aggressive fuel-saving strategy, but with only one four lap caution in the race he too was eventually forced to make a second stop with 13 laps to go.
That left the top three locked out by Penske drivers, with Power and Pagenaud joined by team mate Scott McLaughlin in a battle for victory. But a dramatic clash between Power and McLaughlin after the latter was knocked off course by rookie Oliver Askew saw the Virgin Australia Supercars champion get spun into the barrier and left him limping to the finish.
Power also sustained virtual damage in the clash and lost half of his front wing in the encounter, but managed to continue. However Dixon soon closed the gap and applied pressure to wrest second place from his long-time rival.
© Chris Graythen (Getty Images) for IndyCar Media
“That's what lost us the race basically," Power admitted afterwards. "We couldn't battle for the win anymore. I was pushing a lot, obviously. I was happy to hang on for third. That showed how much of a gap we'd pulled on the whole field, that I could just nurse it home and have another third place."
Dixon went on to catch Pagenaud, but ran out of time trying to pass him for the lead before the chequered flag came out. Behind Power, Marcus Ericsson took fourth for Ganassi ahead of Wickens, with Jack Harvey, Sage Karam, Zach Veach, Santino Ferrucci and Graham Rahal rounding out the top ten.
“Honestly, what happened at the end, I didn't know we were racing actually for the lead,” Dixon said later. “Everybody's racing hard. I thought it was awesome. It was a great show, a lot of fun. I think it was exciting. Simon did a hell of a job. Kudos to them. It was fun to be a part of it and fun to watch.”
Pagenaud also thought that the virtual event had been a great success: "What’s fun to me actually is that you're racing the exact same guys as usual, exact same moves as you would in real life. You keep turning your wheels in your head," he explained.
© Chris Graythen (Getty Images) for IndyCar Media
“Right now we're not racing [in the real world] so we're racing [online] on the weekend. That gives me a lot of joy. The adrenaline was definitely at the maximum level at the end of the race.”
The race also saw the (virtual) IndyCar debut of NASCAR champion Kyle Busch after previous iRacing guest appearances from Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Even though he was using a hand-operated gear lever rather than the usual steering wheel-mounted paddle shift system, Busch finished a commendable 13th after starting from 25th.
Helio Castroneves was the last man still running at the finish, albeit three laps down after being involved in an early multi-car accident. Among the drivers hit by technical gremlins with their internet connections were Tony Kanaan, Felipe Nasr and Max Chilton who were all listed as DNF, while James Hinchcliffe was unable to take part in either qualifying or the race.
The six-event iRacing championship continues next week at the Circuit of the Americas, and concludes on May 2 with an event to be held on a "dream" track from outside the normal IndyCar Series itinerary.
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