Scott McLaughlin pulled out an entertaining win in the second round of the IndyCar iRacing Challenge series from a virtual Barber Motorsports Park.
McLaughlin was able to pull off the win in part due to his unique strategy, choosing to make his first pit stop just before the competition caution and earlier than most everyone else. He had to pit a second time to top up on fuel, but held a big enough lead by that point that he didn’t lose many positions.
After passing Scott Speed to regain the lead with six laps to go, the V8 Supercars champion was able to hold off a charging Will Power in the final laps to take the victory. Speed ended up finishing on the last step of the podium, with Alex Palou and Simon Pagenaud rounding out the top five.
“We worked hard on the fuel and what we were going to do,” said McLaughlin after the race. He also pointed out how much of his skills transfer into the digital racing, saying, “iRacing is the most professional platform I’ve ever raced on. Certainly feels a lot more real.”
Although Power was close, in the end he wanted a few more laps to catch the smooth-driving New Zealander. “Last week I was satisfied with my race. This week I would have liked to have won.
“We just want to put on a good show. It’s about keeping IndyCar out there.”
McLaughlin and Power are regulars in the sim-racing world, and their experience showed today. Just as last week, the drivers that have put in hours of running on simulators in their own homes held a distinct advantage over their counterparts that have only recently started participating in online racing.
The race had more moments of action than last week’s race at Watkins Glen, with multiple drivers colliding on the flowing course. Some drivers had a hard time with rear grip, but there wasn’t an opportunity to change the car setup as that was fixed among the competitors and as a result there ended up being a few solo spins throughout the day.
The competition caution at lap 15 did what was intended by bringing additional action to the track. Before the caution, the field had become spread out and was mostly a single-file affair, but afterwards there was action straight from the front to the back of the pack.
Just outside the top five was Felix Rosenqvist, who tangled with last week’s winner Sage Karam approximately halfway through the race and ended up finishing sixth. Karam went on to have more troubles trying to gain back the positions he lost before dropping out of the race early.
Colton Herta and Robert Wickens finished seventh and eighth respectively, with Wickens making his digital return to racing following his extensive injuries suffered at Pocono in 2018. Wickens had started at the back of the field after spinning during qualifying, but had a steady run throughout the day, working his way up the field.
IndyCar will hold the third round of the iRacing Challenge series next Saturday, this time running at a virtual Michigan International Speedway. The two-mile oval will give the drivers a very different challenge to the road courses they have seen so far.
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