Red Bull GRC: Foust back on top in Seattle - MotorSportsTalk

The pendulum swung back to Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross’ Tanner Foust in the ninth round of Red Bull Global Rallycross’ 2016 season, with Foust scoring his fourth win of the year and first since Daytona race two back in mid-June.

Foust, driver of the No. 34 Rockstar Energy Drink Volkswagen Beetle GRC, dominated the series’ return to Seattle, now racing at Evergreen Speedway rather than at DirtFish as it was in the past.

Foust has also retaken the lead in the championship from Scott Speed in the process. Speed, Foust’s teammate, had won the last three races but finished fourth in the Supercar final today. Speed entered the race with a nine-point lead, 409-400.

That's all! @tannerfoust DOMINATES #RedBullGRC #Seattle and regains the championship lead with two rounds to go! pic.twitter.com/lryLyIEEYg

— Red Bull GRC (@RedBullGRC) September 18, 2016

The two drivers that split the Andretti teammates were the pair of Honda Civic Coupe drivers, Sebastian Eriksson and Joni Wiman, who brought the Honda Red Bull Olsbergs MSE its first double podium of the season and the first double podium for the new Hondas, which premiered earlier this year.

Steve Arpin brought the No. 00 ENEOS Ford Fiesta ST to fifth, as Chip Ganassi Rallycross secured a top-five finish with one of its two cars here in one of the team’s six series, 14-car effort across the country this weekend.

Meanwhile in sixth, past Subaru World Rally Team factory ace Chris Atkinson brought Subaru Rally Team USA easily its best finish of the year.

Brian Deegan, Nelson Piquet Jr., David Higgins and Austin Dyne completed the top 10 in the Supercar final.

The season finale is back to a doubleheader weekend at Los Angeles, Oct. 8-9. Both races will air on Sunday, Oct. 9, on NBC at 3 p.m. ET.

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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.”