Fresh numbers for Kimball, Chilton at Carlin

By Dec 26, 2017, 9:11 AM EST
Getty Images
0 Comments

Carlin released Charlie Kimball and Max Chilton’s car numbers for the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season last week, and they’re not what you might expect.

Kimball will be in the No. 23 Novo Nordisk Chevrolet and Chilton the No. 59 Gallagher Chevrolet for the Carlin team. They switch from numbers 83 and 8, which they’d run for the entirety of their IndyCar careers thus far.

Neither number has been prevalent on the IndyCar grid in recent years, and hasn’t been utilized since 2011.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing ran No. 23 for one of its cars from 2008 through 2011, with NBCSN IndyCar analyst Paul Tracy giving the number its most recent start at that year’s Indianapolis 500.

E.J. Viso ran No. 59 in the 2011 season for KV Racing Technology when it still had associated Lotus branding; the team also had No. 82 that year for Tony Kanaan (also with Lotus tie-in) and KV’s more traditional No. 5 for Takuma Sato.

The 2018 season opens in St. Petersburg in March, and returns to NBCSN in April at Phoenix’s renamed ISM Raceway. Carlin is expected to undertake its first tests as an IndyCar team in January, when team testing resumes.

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
IndyCar
0 Comments

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.”