Rosberg paces second practice in Austria in mixed conditions

By Jul 1, 2016, 9:36 AM EDT
Getty Images
0 Comments

Nico Rosberg completed a sweep of the two free practice sessions for this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, with the second session interrupted by rain before drying back out in the final half hour.

Rosberg paced the session at a 1:07.967 in the Mercedes W07, running on Pirelli’s supersoft, then ultrasoft tires before rain hit and a number of drivers spun off the road.

Kimi Raikkonen, Sergio Perez, Jolyon Palmer and Max Verstappen were among those caught out.

Drivers went out on Pirelli’s green intermediate tires to test conditions before the track began drying out and drivers started shifting back to slicks.

Hamilton got close to Rosberg’s time on a late ultrasoft run, at 1:07.986, but was unable to surpass the German’s best time from earlier in the session.

Nico Hulkenberg was third ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo, the latter in his lederhosen overalls this weekend for Red Bull Racing.

Vettel then went off in a spin at Turn 2 at the end of the session, which put the session under Virtual Safety Car conditions.

Times are below:

FP3 is Saturday morning at 5 a.m. ET on the NBC Sports app and live streamed at NBCSports.com.

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
IndyCar
0 Comments

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.”