Kvyat: Red Bull’s Singapore pace “promising”

By Sep 18, 2015, 3:00 PM EDT
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Daniil Kvyat felt upbeat following practice for the Singapore Grand Prix on Friday night after he finished at the top of the timesheets for the first time in his Formula 1 career.

Kvyat posted a fastest lap time of 1:46.142 to edge out Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen for P1 as FP1 pace-setters Mercedes struggled on the super-soft tire.

The result also marked the first time in 2015 that Red Bull has topped a session, and Kvyat was pleased with the pace that the team is showing in Singapore.

“We expected the car to perform better at this track because it has fewer straights,” Kvyat said. “This afternoon, it didn’t look bad at all and our pace looks promising.

“I didn’t do much running in the first session, so it was more of a challenge in FP2 and maybe slightly surprising that I did a quick lap immediately, but I felt comfortable straight away.

“It’s good to be P1 for the first time. However, all the teams will be working hard overnight and we will have to see what the situation is. So I don’t have any particular expectations for tomorrow.”

Teammate Daniel Ricciardo finished third-fastest in FP2, but revealed that he hit traffic on his quickest lap on the option tire.

“We’ve had a pretty nice car out of the box at the last few races, because the balance has been right,” Ricciardo said. “Both free practices today were good for us, we hit a bit of traffic on the option lap, but we know what we have and I think we are looking good for the weekend.

“Saturday is the important day but I am happy we started off on the right foot in free practice. The car felt strong and as expected is performing well at this track. We will be doing some fine tuning tonight.

“We expect the silver cars and the red ones to turn it up tomorrow, but hopefully we can keep the pace we showed to get up as far the grid as possible.”

Qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix is live on CNBC and Live Extra from 8am ET on Sunday.

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
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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.”