MRTI: Pigot wins and Hargrove retains points lead in GT3 Canada at GP3R - MotorSportsTalk

The Mazda Road to Indy divisions, as well as the Verizon IndyCar Series, were off this past weekend – but several drivers were making the rounds around North America this weekend.

We noted IndyCar drivers Jack Hawksworth and James Hinchcliffe in action at Road America; Gabby Chaves, the Indy Lights points leader, also made a day trip to Road America to support the DeltaWing team, which he’s driven for in the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup this year.

In Trois-Rivieres, Pro Mazda title rivals Scott Hargrove and Spencer Pigot continued their battle at the legendary street course in Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin action. It was part of the weekend that also included this accident in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.

Pigot finished fourth in Saturday’s race one (Chris Green won) and won Sunday’s race two; the Sunday win was his second of the year (Toronto).

“I knew I had the pace. I just had to take advantage when I could but not take too many risks and end up in the wall, which is easy to do here,” Pigot said. “Just worked my way past Chris and Scott. It was good battling with them, as always. Really hard racing, but it was all clean today. Happy to get the win.”

Meanwhile Hargrove finished second in both races and retains the series points lead with a final two-race weekend to go at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, August 30-31. Hargrove leads Green by 16 points (152-136); 20 points are on offer for each win, and a maximum 40 possible.

Pigot and Hargrove’s Pro Mazda title battle will be decided in the next two weeks, after one race in Milwaukee this weekend and two in Sonoma the following weekend. There, Pigot currently leads Hargrove by 14 points (259-245). Wins are worth more than 30 points.

The other IMSA Development Series were in action at Road America this weekend. Sloan Urry, Michael Lewis and Angel Benitez Jr. won the three IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup USA races with Mikhail Goikhberg and Andrew Novich winning in IMSA Cooper Tire Prototype Lites.

We’ll have more on the Pigot/Hargrove title battle later this week on MotorSportsTalk.

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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.”