Castroneves keeps building on IndyCar title lead - MotorSportsTalk

With the second race of the Honda Indy Toronto doubleheader coming up tomorrow (3 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network), the championship battle between Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves and Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay can still take some turns this weekend.

But on Saturday, Castroneves definitely came out the better of the two in Race 1 at Exhibition Place as he claimed a sixth-place finish, while Hunter-Reay – last year’s winner at Toronto – finished 18th.

That spells a 39-point lead for Castroneves over Hunter-Reay, who now has to also start thinking about his rival behind him, race winner Scott Dixon. With his second victory in a row, the New Zealander is now third in points and just three markers behind RHR for second in the standings.

Going back to Castroneves, he maintained that he could’ve had a better result if not for a mistake on his part that altered his team’s plans for the rest of the race.

“Unfortunately, [I was told] to come in and I got confused with what car was in front of me – I was coming in and then I decided to bail out,” he explained to NBC Sports Network. “Not good. That changed our pit strategy, but the car was fast. We actually had the fastest lap of the race and showed that we were really, really good.

“Tomorrow, we’re starting third – different things. We feel very strong for tomorrow…Right now, I’m very happy with extending the lead on the championship.”

Meanwhile, Hunter-Reay had a tough afternoon, as he stalled his car twice on pit exits before going into the Turn 3 tire barriers with seven laps left while trying to pass teammate E.J. Viso on the inside. An extended stop in the final laps for a new nosecone also contributed to his poor finish.

“We had two stalls in the pit lane and then were making some moves, making our way up on track, and then racing with E.J. there, I just got held down in the marbles on the inside and collected all that stuff on my tires,” said Hunter-Reay. “I came down into [Turn] 3 and locked up the right side.

“A frustrating afternoon, but I hope we can regroup overnight and improve on the car. I didn’t feel confident at all under braking today and had some issues with it. The four cars, we’ll put our heads together and hopefully come out a better team tomorrow.”

—

IZOD IndyCar Series – Points Standings
Top 10 – After 12 Races

1. Helio Castroneves, Team Penske/Chevrolet – 384 points
2. Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport/Chevrolet – 345
3. Scott Dixon, Target Chip Ganassi Racing/Honda – 342
4. Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport/Chevrolet – 333
5. Tony Kanaan, KV Racing Technology/Chevrolet – 301
6. James Hinchcliffe, Andretti Autosport/Chevrolet – 296
7. Simon Pagenaud, Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports/Honda – 291
8. Dario Franchitti, Target Chip Ganassi Racing/Honda – 274
9. Justin Wilson, Dale Coyne Racing/Honda – 272
10. Will Power, Team Penske/Chevrolet – 260

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.”