Gasly takes third win of GP2 season in Spa feature race - MotorSportsTalk

Pierre Gasly continued to strengthen his case for a Formula 1 seat in 2016 by claiming his third victory of the GP2 Series season on Saturday at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

Red Bull junior driver Gasly started second on the grid behind Prema Racing teammate Antonio Giovinazzi, and remained P2 behind Gustav Malja in the early stages.

Gasly managed to battle past the Rapax driver on lap five at the end of the Kemmel Straight before making his sole pit stop three laps later.

The Frenchman slipped behind Racing Engineering’s Jordan King after the Briton got the undercut by pitting earlier, with Norman Nato also moving into contention for the lead by passing Malja.

Gasly was able to wrestle the advantage back from King on lap nine, cycling back into the lead once those running an alternative strategy had come in to make their first pit stop.

Gasly continued to soak up the pressure from the Racing Engineering drivers after struggling to open up a lead through the traffic before Nato’s race came to an end following a loss of power.

Nato left his stricken car on the main straight, forcing officials to call a Virtual Safety Car period that neutralized the race. Gasly managed to retain and even extend his lead, with King complaining over the radio that the Prema driver had pulled away.

Gasly kept his cool at the front to ease to his third win of the season and extend his championship lead, with King and Alex Lynn bringing a British flavor to the podium in second and third place respectively.

Raffaele Marciello and Artem Markelov finished fourth and fifth respectively for Russian Time, while pole-sitter Giovinazzi was left to settle for P6 at the checkered flag ahead of Luca Ghiotto and Malja, the latter securing reverse grid pole for Sunday.

The battle for P9 and P10 ended in contact at the final corner. Upon his return to the series, Sergio Canamasas tried to force Oliver Rowland wide at the chicane to keep hold of the position, only for the two to make contact. This allowed title contender Sergey Sirotkin to sweep through and take P9, with Rowland hobbling over the line in 10th.

The victory for Gasly sees his championship lead grow to 23 points over Sirotkin, with the pair set to start next to each other on Sunday for the sprint race.

Follow @LukeSmithF1

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.”