Another busy weekend coming up for Ryan Briscoe - MotorSportsTalk

The balancing act begins anew this weekend for American Le Mans Series full-timer and IndyCar part-timer Ryan Briscoe.

It all starts Thursday with an Open Test for Panther Racing at Pocono Raceway in advance of Sunday’s Pocono IndyCar 400 at the “Tricky Triangle.” After the test is over, he’ll then head off to Connecticut’s Lime Rock Park, where he’ll compete for Level 5 Motorsports on Saturday in the ALMS’ Northeast Grand Prix.

As a result, Briscoe will not be able to qualify Panther’s No. 4 National Guard Chevrolet that day at Pocono and will make his fifth IndyCar start of the season from the back of the field on Sunday.

“It will be a busy weekend between racing the National Guard Chevrolet at Pocono and the Level 5 car at Lime Rock,” Briscoe said in a statement. “It’s great that Panther is giving me the opportunity to race at Pocono even though I won’t be here Saturday for practice and qualifying. Fortunately, I will be able to prepare the car for the race and it was a big bonus having the test day last week and then the Open Test on Thursday to get as much track time as possible.”

Briscoe’s most recent start with Panther at the Milwaukee Mile came while he was going back and forth from France, where he was preparing for his first 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Level 5 camp.

Team managing partner John Barnes said he wasn’t worried about having to start from the back at Pocono.

“I’m not concerned about missing qualifying and having to start in the back of the field; Pocono is a big place and we’ll have 400 miles to help Ryan work his way to the front,” he said in the same statement. “This is the first time we’ve had an extended period of time to test with him and that will pay off for us on Sunday.”

Panther collected its first Top-10 finish since April in the most recent race at Iowa Speedway, as Oriol Servia turned in a seventh-place result on the short oval.

An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”