Complete 2014 schedule announced for Pirelli World Challenge - MotorSportsTalk

The complete schedule for the 25th anniversary season of the Pirelli World Challenge was released by WC Vision during this week’s SEMA Show festivities in Las Vegas.

The GT and GTS classes are set to compete in 16 races across nine event weekends, while the Touring Car and Touring Car B-Spec classes will have 14 races in seven weekends.

GT/GTS kicks off their 2014 seasons as part of the lineup for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (March 28-30), and TC/TCB gets started at Barber Motorsports Park on April 25-27.

In all, six event weekends will be run in conjunction with INDYCAR, including the aforementioned St. Pete and Barber, Long Beach, Detroit, Toronto, and Sonoma. The series will also be part of weekends for Trans-Am, ARCA, the NASCAR Nationwide Series, and the NASCAR K&N Series.

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2014 Pirelli World Challenge Schedule

March 28–30, 2014
Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, FL
GT/GTS Rounds 1 and 2, with IndyCar – street/airport circuit **

April 11–13, 2014
Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
GT/GTS Round 3, with IndyCar – street circuit *

April 25–27, 2014
Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, AL
GT/GTS Rounds 4 and 5, TC/TCB Rounds 1 and 2, with IndyCar – permanent road course **

May 16–18, 2014
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada
TC/TCB Rounds 3 and 4, with Trans-Am Series – permanent road course **

May 30–June 1, 2014
Grand Prix of Detroit, Detroit, MI
GT/GTS Rounds 6 and 7, with IndyCar – street circuit **

May 30–June 1, 2014
New Jersey Motorsports Park, Millville, NJ
TC/TCB Rounds 5 and 6, with Trans-Am Series and ARCA – permanent road course **

June 19–21, 2014
Road America, Elkhart Lake, WI
GT/GTS Round 8 and 9, TC/TCB Rounds 7 and 8, with NASCAR Nationwide Series – permanent road course **

July 18–20, 2014
Honda Indy Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
GT/GTS Rounds 10 and 11, with IndyCar – street circuit **

August 1–3, 2014
Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, OH
GT/GTS Rounds 12 and 13, TC/TCB Rounds 9 and 10, with IndyCar – permanent road course **

August 22–24, 2014
Sonoma Raceway, Sonoma, CA
GT/GTS Rounds 14 and 15, with IndyCar – permanent road course **

August 30–31, 2014
Brainerd International Raceway, Brainerd, MN
TC/TCB Rounds 11 and 12, with Trans-Am Series – permanent road course **

September 12–13, 2014
Miller Motorsports Park, Tooele, UT
GT/GTS Round 16, TC/TCB Rounds 13 and 14, with K&N NASCAR – permanent road course **

** denotes double race weekend * denotes single race weekend

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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.”