Alex Tagliani named to SFHR’s second car for Indianapolis 500

By Mar 13, 2014, 10:15 AM EDT
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Alex Tagliani, the 2011 Indianapolis 500 pole sitter, will have a new opportunity for this year’s month of May in the second Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing entry.

Tagliani will drive the team’s No. 68 SFHR/RW Dallara/Honda/Firestone for the Indianapolis 500. And for teammate Josef Newgarden, it’s a huge get, because it will mark the first time the young Nashville native will have a veteran in the team’s second car (Bryan Clauson in 2012 Indianapolis 500 and Lucas Luhr in 2013 Sonoma race were each making their series debuts).

“It has always been our goal at SFHR to hire talent for credentials, and I am excited to have that opportunity again to include Tag in our Indianapolis 500 lineup, alongside Josef,” SFHR co-owner Sarah Fisher said in a release. “Wink has helped us bring the proper individuals together to provide a solidly prepared effort toward success at Indy. We continue to have the support of the RW Motorsports founder, Steve Weirich, for this second program and are looking forward to building on to this second entry even further during the second half of the season.”

Added Tagliani, “I need to really thank Sarah and Wink for this chance to go back to Indianapolis to win this race. It’s been a pleasure working with them. This has the potential to develop into a longer association because I really love what this team is about. You couldn’t ask for a better team to attack the ‘500.’ They have the ability to surprise a lot of people! I’m looking forward to working with Josef and trying to help SFHR win the big one.”

This is the fourth extra Honda added for the ‘500, along with Martin Plowman, Jacques Villeneuve and Kurt Busch. That brings Honda’s confirmed number of engines for the race up to 17, as beyond the four Indy-only cars, Oriol Servia’s second Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing car has been added for four races.

The separate, crowd-funded Cutters RT effort, if it materializes, would be an additional entry that SFHR would run.

Tagliani is in action this weekend at the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, driving with Chris Cumming and Rusty Mitchell in RSR Racing’s No. 08 ORECA FLM09 PC car.

IndyCar disappointed by delay of video game but aiming to launch at start of 2024

By Mar 27, 2023, 3:00 PM EDT
IndyCar video game 2024
IndyCar
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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.”