By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer
Avoiding the late-race mayhem, Simon Pagenaud escaped with the victory in the IndyCar iRacing Challenge’s Firestone 175.
The Team Penske driver stalked his teammates, Will Power and Scott McLaughlin at the virtual Twin Ring Motegi. It appeared to be a race between the trio until Oliver Askew attempted to un-lap himself. Askew hit Power, sending the leader into McLaughlin who spun into the outside wall.
With no caution, the race continued. Pagenaud quickly caught the wounded No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet. Power did not make the pass for the lead easy and banged wheels with the No. 22 DXC Technology Chevrolet. With less damage, the defending Indianapolis 500 winner pulled away with eight laps to go.
In the final eight circuits, Pagenaud held off a charge from Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon. The duo touched in turn one without incident. After furious movements to break the draft, Pagenaud took the checkered flag with 0.341 seconds to spare over Dixon. Power rounded out the podium positions.
“That was a crazy race,” admitted Pagenaud. “It was very hectic with Dixon at the end. Man, we worked hard. I worked hard all week to be competitive. I think I’m catching up, getting there. Certainly, I get a lot of help from Ben Bretzman my engineer, and you can see he’s doing a great job with pit stops.
“I’m having a lot of fun, but it’s so stressful. You’re lacking a lot of feedback so I’m relearning how to race. But I’ll tell you that it’s funny because it’s the same behavior for all of the drivers out there.”
The race was slowed only once for a caution. On lap five, iRacing newcomer Helio Castroneves was swept up in an incident with Sebastien Bourdais and others on the backstretch. Several other single car incidents involving Tony Kanaan, McLaughlin, Felix Rosenqvist, and Rinus Veekay did not result in caution flags.
After the checkered flag, Dixon showed some displeasure with Pagenaud. As the Penske driver slowed, Dixon rammed him, taking his rear wing off, and collecting Castroneves.
“Dixon can be mad, we were racing for the last lap,” explained Pagenaud. “Dixon’s a great racer and it’s always a pleasure to race him. I really enjoyed it.”
Pole sitter Robert Wickens took the checkered flag in fifth.
This week’s guest in the IndyCar iRacing Challenge was NASCAR Cup Series Champion Kyle Busch. After a strong performance in the test races hosted by Kanaan and others earlier in the week, he struggled in qualifying. Busch ultimately finished the race in 13th, one lap behind the leaders.
The next race for NTT IndyCar Series’ iRacing exhibition is April 25 at the virtual Circuit of the Americas.
The Finish
1. Simon Pagenaud [9], 2. Scott Dixon [7], 3. Will Power [2], 4. Marcus Ericsson [8], 5. Robert Wickens [1], 6. Jack Harvey [3], 7. Sage Karam [31], 8. Zach Veach [14], 9. Santino Ferrucci [12], 10. Graham Rahal [20], 11. Conor Daly [26], 12. Takuma Sato [23], 13. Kyle Busch [25], 14. Felix Rosenqvist [19], 15. Josef Newgarden [24], 16. Ryan Hunter-Reay [15], 17. Ed Carpenter [18], 18. Colton Herta [13], 19. Dalton Kellett [28], 20. Sebastien Bourdais [32], 21. Oliver Askew [4], 22. Alex Palou [16], 23. Rinus Veekay [17], 24. Scott McLaughlin [5], 25. Marco Andretti [22], 26. Patricio O’Ward [30], 27. Kyle Kaiser [10], 28. Alexander Rossi [29], 29. Helio Castroneves [21], 30. Tony Kanaan [6], 31. Felipe Nasr [27], 32. Max Chilton [11], 33. James Hinchcliffe [33].
Lead Changes: 15 among 10 drivers.
Lap Leader(s): Robert Wickens 1, Jack Harvey 2-3, Oliver Askew 4-10, Jack Harvey 11-12, Will Power 13-49, Scott Dixon 50, Sage Karam 51-55, Will Power 56-71, Scott Dixon 72, Will Power 73-74, Scott Dixon 75-85, Marcus Ericsson 86, Zach Veach 87-88, Josef Newgarden 89-99, Will Power 100-105, Simon Pagenaud 106-113.
Laps Led: Will Power 61, Scott Dixon 13, Josef Newgarden 11, Simon Pagenaud 8, Oliver Askew 7, Sage Karam 5, Jack Harvey 4, Zach Veach 2, Marcus Ericsson 1, Robert Wickens 1.
Hard Charger: Sage Karam (+24)
Cautions: One for four laps.
Margin of Victory: 0.341 seconds.
Time of Race: 58 minutes, 6.634 seconds.
Average Speed: 177.345 mph.
Fastest Lap: Sage Karam 200.007 mph (27.359 seconds).
Pole Speed: Robert Wickens, 202.517 mph (27.020 seconds).