Sage Karam took the win in dominating fashion from pole position in the inaugural IndyCar iRacing Challenge race from Watkins Glen International.
The race, which was broadcast on YouTube and Twitch complete with full commentator coverage, had some frantic moments, but for the most part the race was dominated by level-headed driving and many moments of great racing.
Sage Karam earned pole with a lap of 1:25.065, beating Felix Rosenqvist to the spot by seven tenths of a second. Both drivers are among the drivers that are very familiar with iRacing and have a distinct advantage over drivers that just set up their sim racing wheels earlier in the week.
At the start of the race, there was a heavy crash involving a few cars which gave Alexander Rossi major damage from the outset.
Drivers were allowed to complete fast repairs and get back on track without anything more than a time penalty amounting to less than one lap.
After the initial shuffling, things were calm until lap six when Scott McLaughlin and Oliver Askew collided in the bus stop and collected Simon Pagenaud and reigning IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden as well. All drivers were able to make repairs and lost comparatively little time.
Karam maintained his lead over Rosenqvist from the start with neither getting caught up in any incidents or having much for pressure from the drivers behind.
Pato O’Ward was involved in multiple good scraps over the course of the 45-lap race including a multi-lap battle with Pagenaud for eighth place just past the halfway point.
Towards the end of the race there were a few close battles including McLaughlin securing fourth place from Askew in the esses.
The win was almost in jeopardy for Karam who narrowly avoided disaster by expertly dodging a spinning lapped car with only three laps remaining. In the end he held onto victory with a margin of 3.618 seconds over Rosenqvist.
Talking about that near miss, Karam said, “I had to rely on some instincts. A little too close for comfort.”
Rosenqvist acknowledged that he never had a real shot at the win because Karam “seemed to have it pretty much under control. I think based on pure pace, I didn’t really have what it took.”
He also felt that he was speaking for all the drivers when he said it was “nice to give the fans a bit of a show” given the lack of real racing.
Rounding out the podium with an uneventful drive was Will Power, who said, “It was fun. I was really cautious on the first lap and then got stuck behind a couple people.
“I tried to focus on not making mistakes and I kept out of trouble.”
The top three were followed by Scott McLaughlin, Oliver Askew and Simon Pagenaud. With no full course cautions to bunch up the field, Josef Newgarden finished in seventh and was the last car on the lead lap.
Throughout the day all drivers were very respectful of each other and put on a proper race that was very enjoyable. There was legitimately good presentation top to bottom and the whole event proved to be a suitable substitute for on-track action.
The next IndyCar iRacing Challenge is next Saturday from Barber Motorsports Park, a track that had to be removed from this year’s calendar due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
