Mid-Ohio: A haven for one-offs and random driver changes - MotorSportsTalk

Oriol Servia will return to Panther Racing at Mid-Ohio for the first time since Iowa, while James Davison (Dale Coyne Racing) and Luca Filippi (Barracuda Racing/BHA) are set to make their IZOD IndyCar Series debuts this weekend at Mid-Ohio.

Par for the course, really, as the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course has recently seemed a haven for driver swaps and one-off entries. With in-season testing fairly limited, teams have often used this race as a tryout for new drivers in preparation for the following year. There’s also been a higher than normal amount of injuries that have occurred heading into this race over the years.

Here’s a look back at some of the surprise entries the last few years, since IndyCar returned to the track in 2007:

2012: Giorgio Pantano (pictured) substitutes for an injured Charlie Kimball at Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing. Starts 24th, and finishes 14th.
2011: Simon Pagenaud gets called in as a last-minute injury replacement for Justin Wilson at Dreyer & Reinbold. Starts 18th, finishes 13th. Martin Plowman makes his IndyCar debut in a jointly entered AFS/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, starting 26th, finishing 18th.
2010: Ex-Panther Racing driver JR Hildebrand makes his IndyCar debut as a D&R injury replacement for Mike Conway, qualifying 18th and finishing 16th (Ed: thanks to DRR PR ace Brie Rentz for the catch, I didn’t have this initially). Former Honda F1 tester and A1GP champion Adam Carroll makes his second, and last, IndyCar start in an AFS/Andretti Autosport extra car. Starts 17th, finishes 19th. Englishman Jay Howard makes his fifth start of 2010 for Sarah Fisher Racing, starts 26th and finishes 24th. Conquest brings in unheralded Italian rookie Francesco Dracone for his IndyCar debut, starts 23rd, finishes 22nd in the memorable/infamous Halkin Jet/LaPasta.biz car.
2009: Servia, who like in 2013 did not have a ride for that full season, replaces Robert Doornbos at Newman/Haas Racing for his second of three eventual stints with the team (2005, 2011). He qualifies 14th, finishes 11th. Doornbos moves to a second HVM Racing car, qualifying 18th and finishing 14th. Richard Antinucci makes his fourth of five career IndyCar starts, qualifying 19th and finishing 18th for Team 3G. Paul Tracy is called in as a last-minute replacement for Mario Moraes at KV Racing, as the Brazilian lost his father. “PT” qualifies 10th and finishes seventh on short notice.
2007: Ryan Hunter-Reay is plucked from career obscurity by Rahal Letterman Racing to replace the underperforming Jeff Simmons. He starts 10th and finishes seventh in his first open-wheel start in two years.

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.”