Olli Pahkala handed penalty, Bono Huis named new winner of Vegas eRace - MotorSportsTalk

Bono Huis has been named as the winner of the inaugural FIA Formula E Vegas eRace after original victor Olli Pahkala was handed a post-race penalty for having a software issue on his computer.

The Vegas eRace pitted the 20-strong Formula E grid up against 10 of the world’s fastest sim racers in a battle for $1 million worth of prize money.

Faraday Future Dragon Racing driver Huis dominated proceedings throughout the eRace weekend, topping every practice and qualifying session heading into the race.

The Dutchman managed to soak up pressure from regular Formula E racer Felix Rosenqvist in the early part of the eRace before pitting with five laps to go from the lead.

Huis emerged from the pits nine seconds behind Pahkala, who had been running outside of the top five in the early part of the race.

However, a glitch in the software being used for the event meant that Pahkala’s FanBoost – intended to give him a power advantage for a brief period of time – lasted six laps.

This allowed the Finn to lap up to three seconds per lap faster than Huis, who is widely recognized as being one of the finest sim racers in the world.

After the race, Huis’ anger was evident after finishing second, and he initially refused to come out onto the podium to accept his trophy and a cheque for $100,000.

However, the stewards looked into the timings and opted to hand Pahkala a 12-second time penalty to negate the software issue, demoting him to third place.

As a result, Huis is the first Vegas eRace winner, while Rosenqvist claims second place, with the pair winning prizes of $200,000 and $100,000 respectively. Huis also claimed $25,000 for taking pole position earlier in the day.

“This first eRace in Las Vegas was a great success,” Formula E CEO Alejandro Agag said following the race.

“It’s exciting to have brought Formula E into the inner sanctum of CES – the biggest and most influential technology show in the world. I think this can be the first in a big future for Formula E in eSports racing.

“We will continue to pursue new and innovative ways to improve our presence in this fast-growing landscape, while maintaining fan engagement at the forefront of all our initiatives.”

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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.”