Report: Providence in talks for 2015 IndyCar Series event - MotorSportsTalk

After losing its Baltimore round, the IndyCar Series could be able to re-strengthen its Northeast presence by the 2015 season with a street race in Providence, Rhode Island.

Local radio station WPRO-AM reports that talks are ongoing between race organizers and city and state officials; a spokesman for Providence mayor Angel Taveras confirmed conversations between city officials and the series but stressed to WPRO that, at least currently, “there is no agreement in place to bring the event to Providence.”

Nonetheless, Mark Perrone, the general manager of the New England Grand Prix promotions group, is confident that Providence will soon have a place on the IndyCar calendar.

“The Northeast market is some place [IndyCar wants] to be, especially now,” Perrone told WPRO. “[Providence] will be the only presence from St. Petersburg [Fla.] to Toronto on the east coast.”

The series currently has one Northeast round with its event at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania. It last raced specifically in New England back in 2011 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. That race proved to be a one-and-done affair after it failed to meet financial expectations.

A few years ago, Providence had been in the mix for a 2013 IndyCar date but while series officials had high praise for the bid, they felt Little Rhody’s capital city needed more time to get things squared away.

For his part, Perrone seems to agree with that previous decision.

“I think we were trying to rush a lot of things,” he told WPRO of Providence’s earlier efforts regarding an IndyCar event. “We were trying to put a round peg in a square hole.”

The plan for a Providence event involves an 11-turn, 2.1-mile street circuit with a finish line near the Rhode Island State House. A tentative date for the event has been set for Aug. 7-9, 2015.

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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.”