Lieb on standby for Porsche at Le Mans, will test 919 Hybrid next week - MotorSportsTalk

SPA, Belgium – Marc Lieb will be on standby for Porsche at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans should the German manufacturer require a late replacement for the endurance classic.

Lieb won his first Le Mans title with Porsche last year en route to the FIA World Endurance Championship drivers’ title alongside Neel Jani and Romain Dumas.

The German driver was dropped from its LMP1 line-up for 2017 and relocated within Porsche motorsport, and will take up an unofficial reserve role at Le Mans, with his first test in the updated 919 Hybrid car set to take place next weekend.

“As we know, officially in the regulations we don’t have a spare driver, it is not allowed. Obviously we have a very strong guy ready in the background for us which is Marc Lieb who could jump in if anything could happen in the Le Mans weekend,” Porsche LMP1 team principal Andreas Seidl said.

“We will put Marc Lieb into the car in Aragon for some stints to have him ready again. It’s also great from his side to be available for us.

“He has a new job at Porsche, he’s very busy there, but he knows the way around at Le Mans, so it’s a perfect solution for us also.”

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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.”