MRTI: Harvey sweeps; title battle shift during Mid-Ohio 7-race weekend - MotorSportsTalk

Here’s a quick roundup of the results from the weekend for the Mazda Road to Indy at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course:

INDY LIGHTS

English rookie Jack Harvey delivered his first Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires win on Saturday in dominant fashion and completed the weekend sweep on Sunday with another win, this time by “only” 12.180 seconds compared to 17-plus on Saturday. In both races he started from pole and set the fastest lap.

Additionally and suddenly, the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian driver is in title contention with three races to go.

Points leader Gabby Chaves posted finishes of second (race 1) and third (race 2) with Zach Veach ending fourth (race 1) and second (race 2). It leaves Chaves now 18 points ahead of Harvey (431-413) with Veach now third, his lowest position of the season, on 407 points, with just three races remaining.

RESULTS: Race 1, Race 2

PRO MAZDA

A pair of abnormal winners came through to win the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires races at Mid-Ohio. Nicolas Costa of Brazil scored an overdue first win for Team Pelfrey on Saturday, and his team manager Nigel Tuckey and resident Pelfrey mentor/adviser/goofball Anders Krohn jumped in the pond outside the Mid-Ohio media center to celebrate. Garett Grist won Sunday’s race two for Andretti Autosport.

Despite tough weekends, Spencer Pigot held onto the points lead over Scott Hargrove. The Canadian closed to within 14 points of the Rising Star Racing American driver with three races to go.

RESULTS: Race 1, Race 2

USF2000

Each of the three title contenders in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda bagged a win in the Mid-Ohio triple header weekend, with things now murkier exiting the weekend than they were going in. In order, RC Enerson, Jake Eidson and Florian Latorre grabbed the victories – Eidson’s in race two the most fortuitous following an incident between Enerson and Victor Franzoni at Turn 4 in a green/white/checkered finish on a damp and drying track.

The points standings leaving the weekend: Latorre now leads Eidson by 30 with Enerson third, a further three points behind Eidson. Just two races remain for USF2000.

RESULTS: Race 1, Race 2, Race 3

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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.”