DS Virgin chasing strong finish to second Formula E campaign - MotorSportsTalk

LONDON – DS Virgin Racing drivers Sam Bird and Jean-Eric Vergne have set their sights on a strong finish to the second FIA Formula E season at this weekend’s final round in London.

Battersea Park will play host to Formula E for the final time with races on both Saturday and Sunday, with either Lucas di Grassi or Sebastien Buemi set to be crowned the series’ second champion.

DS Virgin heads to London third in the teams’ championship, just seven points ahead of Dragon Racing with 60 still up for grabs.

Bird won the second race in London last year, and will be racing with a special Union Jack livery on his car this weekend.

“I can’t wait to race again in London – partly because it’s sort of my home city, and because Formula E has created a spectacular track in a sublime setting,” Bird said.

“It holds very special memories given my success here last season. Winning the race was a brilliant way to end season 1 and I’ll be going all out to ensure the team and our fans have a similar reason to celebrate at the end this, our second season of Formula E.”

Teammate Jean-Eric Vergne has enjoyed an upturn in form in recent races, scoring his first podium of the season in Paris before picking up his maiden pole for DS Virgin last time out in Berlin.

“The last two races have been really good for me personally, so hopefully I can continue that momentum into London and have a strong end to the season,” Vergne said.

“I got a good podium here last season which gives me confidence going into the race. The technical team have done a great job to make the car really competitive so we want to give the home crowd something to cheer and really get them behind us throughout the weekend.”

Ahead of the race, DS Virgin completed a special night-time shoot in Brixton, London, giving a glimpse of the livery that Bird will race with.

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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.”