IndyCar: Pagenaud rallies, finishes 4th in Race 1 at Toronto (VIDEO) - MotorSportsTalk

After getting spun out on the opening lap, Simon Pagenaud recovered with the help of some strategy to claim a fourth-place finish in today’s first race of the Honda Indy Toronto doubleheader.

Pagenaud started fourth for Race 1, but was turned around by Luca Filippi coming out of Turn 4. The incident also collected multiple other cars, including Takuma Sato (who did not return), Josef Newgarden, Mike Conway, and Carlos Munoz.

A red flag was flown due to an extended cleanup, but when it changed to yellow, Pagenaud quickly got repairs from his Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports crew before going back on track at the rear of the field.

But on Lap 10, Pagenaud was called into the pits for an early stop, getting sticker primary tires in the process. That put him off-sequence, but Pagenaud was able to rise up to the lead by Lap 35 as the leaders started making their own stops under green.

For the next six laps, Pagenaud pushed as hard as he could before he abandoned the lead for service on Lap 41. But when he came back out, he found himself back where he started in fourth place, and that’s where he would remain for the rest of the race.

“The team did a great job putting me in the right strategy and honestly, that start- I drove really upset after that,” Pagenaud told NBCSN with a knowing laugh. “I was really upset. [There was] nothing I could’ve done. I got lucky to be honest. Everybody could have T-boned me there. But I’m glad we could get back in the race.

“At this point, I was really upset. I drove as hard as I could. The car was really competitive and it’s been competitive all weekend, so I was hoping to get back in the front.

“But I needed to be in clean air and the team did that. They put me in really good strategy. We did some really good lap times and we got right back behind TK [Tony Kanaan]. But once I was behind, there was no other hope.”

Pagenaud now shifts his attention to Race 2, which will have the field gridded by entrant points following Race 1.

With Pagenaud now third in the standings, he’ll be up front for the standing start later this afternoon (coverage begins at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra).

“Fourth was really good, but we’ve got another one this afternoon and I think we can win,” Pagenaud concluded.

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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.”