Kevin Magnussen still hopeful of racing alongside his father at Le Mans - MotorSportsTalk

Haas Formula 1 driver Kevin Magnussen still hopes to partner his father, Jan, and race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but remains focused on his current grand prix duties for the time being.

Following Fernando Alonso’s Indianapolis 500 announcement on Wednesday, the F1 paddock has been awash with talk about drivers entering other races besides their current commitments.

Magnussen Sr. made 25 F1 appearances between 1995 and 1998 before going on to enjoy a successful career in sportscars, racing at Le Mans with Corvette every year since 2004 and with the American marque in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Magnussen Jr. pursued a seat with Corvette for Le Mans back in 2015 when he was benched for a year by McLaren, and also tested for Porsche’s LMP1 team ahead of his F1 return last year.

Speaking in Bahrain on Thursday, Magnussen said that while he is not looking to follow Alonso’s lead and divert away from his F1 duties anytime soon, he is keen to team up with his father at Le Mans someday.

“I think for me, I want to be in Formula 1 and focus on that, but my dad is still racing and he’s in a competitive team in his series and also racing at Le Mans,” Magnussen said.

“I think it would be a shame not to try and do a race together, me growing up with him racing all the time, it would be a really special experience to do a race with him.

“I imagine winning a race like Le Mans with him would be fantastic, so it’s weighing up those two things.

“Formula 1 is my main priority and what I want to focus on, but there is the desire to do something like that with my dad as well, so we’ll see what happens.”

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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.”