TUSC: Tagliani, Daly join RSR PC class lineup - MotorSportsTalk

IndyCar drivers Alex Tagliani and Conor Daly are among the driver lineup for Paul Gentilozzi’s RSR Racing team for the Rolex 24 at Daytona and additional TUDOR United SportsCar Championship races in the PC class.

Tagliani, who was mooted as a potential replacement at Target Chip Ganassi Racing for the retiring Dario Franchitti, is set for a full season in the No. 09 Automax.com entry with fellow Canadian Chris Cumming alongside. Daly and Rusty Mitchell will join for selected endurance races, beginning with the Rolex 24 next week.

The sister No. 08 Lino’spresso car will feature Bruno Junqueira and Duncan Ende for the season, and David Heinemeier Hansson and Gustavo Menezes alongside at the endurance races.

Tagliani has driven for RSR before in Champ Car (2003-2004, 2007) and looked forward to reuniting with some familiar faces.

“I am excited to work with so many familiar faces like Jeff Lohman, Paul, Bruno, Conor, and John and to participate at the Daytona 24 hour race with a competitive team and line-up.

“I’ve already been on contact with Bruno via email. We are good friends and I look forward to working with him again and hopefully we can have a good result for the team.”

Added Daly on his opportunity, “I’m very excited to be headed to Daytona for the first time. I appreciate the opportunity RSR Racing has given me and look forward to working with the team. It will be a whole new experience for me and I’m ready to work with the team to learn from the guys around me to get up to speed quickly.”

At this point, neither Tagliani or Daly has a full-time IndyCar ride. Still, both are working to see what future opportunities may exist there this year. The TUDOR Championship’s two races on IndyCar weekends, Long Beach and Detroit, do not feature the PC class. Other weekend conflicts include June 7 (TUSC at Kansas, IndyCar at Texas) and August 24 (TUSC at VIR, IndyCar at Sonoma).

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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.”