TUSC: BAR1, Scuderia Corsa each announce two-car programs - MotorSportsTalk

BAR1 Motorsports and Scuderia Corsa will each field two entries in the Prototype Challenge and GTD categories respectively for the 2014 Tudor United SportsCar Championship.

BAR1 finished the 2013 American Le Mans Series season on a tear with three consecutive victories for its No. 8 ORECA FLM09 at Circuit of the Americas, Virginia International Raceway and the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. One of the No. 8’s drivers, Chris Cumming, narrowly missed out on the PC class driver’s championship by a single point to Mike Gausch.

“Looking back at 2013, I can’t say enough about the effort our team put forth,” said BAR1 team owner Brian Alder in a statement. “To win the final three races of the season was a huge accomplishment. We finished on the podium a total of eight times this season. We proved week in and out we are one of the premier teams in the highly competitive Prototype Challenge class.”

“Today’s announcement serves notice we’ll be back to finish the job. We want more wins and we want the championship.”

As for Corsa, they’ll field the No. 63 and No. 64 Ferrari 458 Italias for the inaugural TUSC season. The No. 63 will feature the final GRAND-AM GT champion, Alessandro Balzan, pairing up with Jeff Westphal. Dr. Rod Randall and Ken Wilden are set to drive the No. 64.

“I’m very happy to be joining such a great championship team,” Wilden said in a Corsa release. “The Ferrari 458 is an awesome car. Scuderia Corsa has done an exceptional job in the series and we look forward to the year ahead.

“Rod and I both felt this was a great opportunity after running with the team at Indy last year; it was such a great fit and an easy decision. We are looking forward to a very competitive season.”

The No. 63 Ferrari was the fastest in GTD during this past week’s test session at Daytona International Speedway.

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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.”