Strong practice effort doesn’t transfer to qualifying for Marco Andretti at Sonoma

By Sep 17, 2016, 6:59 PM EDT
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Things were looking so good for Marco Andretti Saturday at Sonoma Raceway.

He was fastest in the final practice session for Sunday’s Verizon IndyCar Series season-ending GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma and showed considerable promise of earning a potentially high starting spot in qualifying.

Unfortunately, qualifying went much the way Andretti’s season has gone, and just like that, he went from promising to a poor starting effort.

Whereas Andretti and his team were smiling and in high spirits after the final practice, it was woe and dismay after qualifying.

“I lost two-tenths of a second, this one is going to be hard to swallow,” Andretti said of his qualifying effort. “I’m on the straightaway and had a huge misfire and lost two-tenths. We missed (the Fast Six) by a half a tenth.

“It’s going to be tough to sleep tonight. It’s a bummer. We definitely had the pace to do something tonight. We’re going to be pretty bummed out tonight.”

Andretti was poised for his best starting position of the year had he advanced. Instead, his tough run of qualifying ends with his equal best on a road or street course this season – 14th matches his mark also at St. Petersburg – and zero top-10 starts on the whole with an average grid position of 17.4 for the year.

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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.”