James Hinchcliffe slides into 2016 with new sponsor - MotorSportsTalk

Petro-Canada Lubricants will partner with James Hinchcliffe for the 2016 IndyCar season, the company announced Monday.

“As a Canadian racing in North America, to be able to work with a Canadian company that has such a global reach is really unique,” said Hinchcliffe. “Plus, having an extra maple leaf on my suit is never a bad thing!”

Petro-Canada’s partnership with Hinchcliffe marks their first venture in the United States motorsports scene. They have previously sponsored cars in Canada and Europe.

With 350 lubricants, specialty fluids, and greases the company seeks to expand their dealership network in the U.S., and sees auto racing as a great way to connect with potential customers.

“As we continue to grow our business, distributor network and customer base in North America and globally, James will help build brand awareness within our distributor network as well as for our end users,” said Howard McIntyre, Vice President, Lubricants, Suncor—Petro-Canada’s parent company.

Hinchliffe will climb behind the wheel of the No. 5 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda for the season-opener at St. Petersburg for his sixth year of IndyCar competition. He has four wins to his credit. The most recent of these came last year in New Orleans.

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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.”