IndyCar has added three new drivers to its virtual series as its field has grown to a new high of 33 competitors for this weekend’s iRacing Challenge.
Indianapolis 500 winners Helio Castroneves and Takuma Sato will join the series for the first time on Saturday along with reigning NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Busch.However two other NASCAR drivers who participated in previous rounds, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jnr, will not be on the grid for this weekend’s race.
Drivers will cover 113 laps of the Twin-Ring Motegi tri-oval. The venue last hosted a real-world IndyCar round in 2011, when the race had to be moved from the oval to the road circuit following damaged caused by a major earthquake.
The three previous race winners so far this year – Sage Karam (Watkins Glen), Scott McLaughlin (Barber Motorsport Park) and Simon Pagenaud (Michigan) – will rejoin the series for the race on Saturday.
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IndyCar iRacing Challenge Motegi entry list
| Car | Number | Driver | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Josef Newgarden | Penske |
| 2 | 2 | Scott McLaughlin | Penske |
| 3 | 3 | Helio Castroneves | Penske |
| 4 | 4 | Sebastien Bourdais | Foyt |
| 5 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | McLaren SP |
| 6 | 6 | Robert Wickens | McLaren SP |
| 7 | 7 | Oliver Askew | McLaren SP |
| 8 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | Ganassi |
| 9 | 9 | Scott Dixon | Ganassi |
| 10 | 10 | Felix Rosenqvist | Ganassi |
| 11 | 11 | Kyle Kaiser | Juncos |
| 12 | 12 | Will Power | Penske |
| 13 | 14 | Tony Kanaan | Foyt |
| 14 | 15 | Graham Rahal | RLL |
| 15 | 18 | Santino Ferrucci | Coyne |
| 16 | 20 | Conor Daly | Carpenter |
| 17 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | Carpenter |
| 18 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | Penske |
| 19 | 24 | Sage Karam | Dreyer & Reinbold |
| 20 | 26 | Zach Veach | Andretti |
| 21 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti |
| 22 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti |
| 23 | 29 | James Hinchcliffe | Andretti |
| 24 | 30 | Takuma Sato | RLL |
| 25 | 31 | Felipe Nasr | Carlin |
| 26 | 41 | Dalton Kellett | Foyt |
| 27 | 50 | Ed Carpenter | Carpenter |
| 28 | 51 | Kyle Busch | IndyCar |
| 29 | 55 | Alex Palou | Coyne |
| 30 | 59 | Max Chilton | Carlin |
| 31 | 60 | Jack Harvey | Meyer-Shank |
| 32 | 88 | Colton Herta | Andretti-Harding |
| 33 | 98 | Marco Andretti | Andretti |
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Franton (@franton)
16th April 2020, 16:27
I watched Josef Newgarden’s stream of Indy at Spa last night. Got to say it was far more entertaining than anything F1 has done so far, so I look forward to this one.
faulty (@faulty)
16th April 2020, 18:54
Shouldn’t Alonso be in on this?, you know, showing support…
Jim (@sterling)
17th April 2020, 11:43
I find it odd Alonso hasnt done any eraces considering his quest to be the best in anything w 4 wheels. Why not get out there & show his skills? These events maybe the closest thing we ever have to drivers being in the same equipment
Lauri (@f1lauri)
16th April 2020, 19:27
F1 is failing so hard at the moment becaus of not having a real sim, only the F1 game they have to use.
baasbas
16th April 2020, 19:39
Norris and Verstappen are on iRacing. They should try hard to get them on as wildcards. Publicity gains all around
Balue (@balue)
16th April 2020, 20:45
That would be such a scoop. I’d love to watch that.
baasbas
16th April 2020, 22:22
It would be a talking point whatever the outcome. If they manage to get on the podium or win it, there will be trash talking between F1/Indy ‘fans’. If they get beaten (badly), there will also be trash talking involved… the other way around. If they crash out on an oval, …etc..
I’d watch that
Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
17th April 2020, 1:08
Verstappen beat Scotty McLaughlin in his home series, and McLaughlin is beating the Indy guys at their house, so i would imagine they would be in the lead pack if they joined up.
I’m not really sure why it shouldn’t happen. Norris drives for McLaren who have an Indycar team anyway, and Red Bull Advanced Technologies developed Indy’s aeroscreen
Mark Zastrow (@markzastrow)
17th April 2020, 3:34
@balue @fullcoursecaution Good point, it could happen. Conor Daly mentioned on his stream during the Speed51 race at Texas last week that he asked Norris to join and he replied that he might. Didn’t happen that night, but maybe in the future…
baasbas
17th April 2020, 10:30
He doesn’t have a lot of experience with the supercars you could say. But they did race Silverstone, a track he probably know best of everyone that contended the race. He even has heaps of (recent) data from the real track (don’t know how well it translates to iRacing). So you could also say that it was expected he would be very competitive that race.
I’m curious to see Norris and Verstappen compete at St Petersburg or something (guessing they lack the specific track experience). Or maybe oval racing
Corey (@dragon86)
17th April 2020, 4:06
Last weeks podium included a Indianapolis 500 winner, a Bathurst 1000 winner, and a Daytona 500 winner. If Max joined a got a podium, it would really be par for the course.
MacLeod (@macleod)
17th April 2020, 7:58
That would be funny if Max get the Daytona 500 before Alonso … :)
Ok it would be virtual but stil it would be something i would watch.
Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
17th April 2020, 1:10
It’s a shame these all seem to be standalone events rather than a points based championship, as McLaughlin, Karam and Rosenqvist are having a great fight
Maisch (@maisch)
17th April 2020, 10:58
Hats of to the Indy organizers to put this very impressive set of drivers together! And hats of to the drivers to who all joins in even though they know it will be tough to adapt to simracing for some of them, even the best drivers real world drivers will take time to be good at sims.
Don
17th April 2020, 13:11
I really didn’t think I’d like the sim racing, but I have loved IndyCar’s version so far! The job they’ve done so far is superior to any other series effort. The fact that you have all the IndyCar drivers competing utilizing their lead engineers, sponsors and liveries is fascinating. Obviously some drivers have vast experience doing this and some have none. To some extent it’s a bit unfair but, this is the next best thing for now.
Steve K
17th April 2020, 18:13
I follow IndyCar, NASCAR, and F1. What makes the eRacing fun for me is knowing the personalities of the drivers as they compete. NASCAR has mastered the promotion of their drivers. IndyCar isn’t terribly far behind. I could listen to Clint Bowyer or Dale Jr. cut up for hours. Outside of Lewis, Max, Daniel, and Sebass, F1 has a bunch of duds…at least to the public’s knowledge. Promote your drivers F1! It is (and maybe always has been) the elite 5-6 drivers and a conveyor belt of 20 year old dudes who we never get to know.
W Millard
18th April 2020, 18:05
Give your collective heads a shake. This isn’t racing. They’re just games.