Simon Pagenaud dressed for success in IndyCar iRacing

In this “virtual world” that has become the year 2020, Team Penske driver Simon Pagenaud tried to be as realistic as possible in Saturday’s Chevrolet 275 at Michigan International Speedway.

He wore his full DXC Technology driver’s uniform to compete in his sim racing rig at his home on Lake Norman north of Charlotte, North Carolina.

When he won by finishing ahead of Team Penske Virgin Australia SuperCars champion Scott McLaughlin and former NASCAR Cup Series star Dale Earnhardt, Jr., the “Fast Frenchman” even celebrated as if it were a real victory.

Pagenaud at last year’s Indianapolis 500 with Norman in Victory Lane — INDYCAR Photo

His wife, Hailey, gave him a celebratory bottle of champagne after he took the checkered flag. Pagenaud even got a few wet kisses from his prized dog, a Jack Russell Terrier named Norman.

Essentially, last year’s Indianapolis 500 winner and 2016 NTT IndyCar Series champion went “all in” in Saturday’s third race of the IndyCar iRacing Challenge.

“I’m just as excited as I would be for a race win,” Pagenaud said. “Winning is everything.

It was a high-speed contest at the 2-mile, high-banked oval that last hosted a real IndyCar Series race in 2007.

Pagenaud never had raced at the real Michigan International Speedway.

“It was a very different feeling, for sure,” Pagenaud said. “It was a very different situation. At the Indianapolis 500 we went all out and tried to take control. We had the fastest car, so we just wanted to control the race. I ended up being in the same situation with fuel on the other side, we were a bit short on fuel and we had to save.

“But today the strategy was different because we didn’t qualify so well. I didn’t understand how to run the best line to get speed out of the car. Maybe I didn’t practice enough qualifying runs.

“But I knew in race pace I was going to be good.”

That moment when you win the #IndyCarChallenge but realize full champagne celebration will absolutely destroy your furniture and @iRacing equipment 😂🍾 🍾🍾 #INDYCAR #gamer pic.twitter.com/7tLwdh7OyH

— Simon Pagenaud (@simonpagenaud) April 11, 2020

Pagenaud decided to hang with a driver who has plenty of experience in a stock car at Michigan but was competing in his first contest in a virtual Indy car.

“I decided to just actually hang with Dale because he has so much experience in this kind of racing in general,” Pagenaud said. “We figured out that we were actually saving fuel and tires really well. It helped us to do only one stop.

“At the end I was a bit stressed out, I must say. I was very stressed because I don’t feel as much in control. My engineer, Ben Bretzman, who is my usual engineer, was telling me the fuel code, the fuel level, how much to save fuel, that I was fine. He was telling me basically not to race people around me, which is very difficult. It’s a very different space awareness. That’s what I’m struggling with the most.

“Today was a very stressful day, very intense, very intense.”

Pagenaud started iRacing in 2008 but took a long break from the platform. The virtual IndyCar race at Watkins Glen International two weeks ago was the first full race Pagenaud contested in iRacing after that lengthy break. He currently trains five hours a day to be competitive.

“That’s my nature,” he said. “I want to win races. When IndyCar announced this official racing, I wanted to be myself and I wanted to go out there and do the best I could.

“Winning is the most satisfying thing that I know. Being able to do what we did today to me is why I train so hard; it’s why I do this.”

Racing drivers get hooked on that winning feeling, and all that comes with it. That is why Pagenaud took Saturday’s race seriously, from the full driver’s firesuit to the bottle of champagne to the warm and friendly greeting from his prized pup, Norman.

“Norman comes at the end of every race to give me kisses,” Pagenaud said gleefully. “He was very excited today like he can be when I win a race.

“The biggest thing about the race suit is my fellow drivers, they think I sleep in my race suit. I just wanted to show that I do sleep in my race suit.

“I also wanted to give some love to DXC. In these tough times, our sponsors are there for us. DXC Technology has been a phenomenal partner. We transitioned from HPE to DXE. I’ve had lot of good luck with that car. I love these guys. End of the day it’s a relationship and we work really hard on it with Team Penske.

“I just felt like wearing the race suit was probably the best way to represent them.”

Follow Bruce Martin on Twitter at @BruceMartin_500

What a fun race today! Strategy was king & we had an absolute blast. You can watch full replay on my Facebook to see how the drama unfolded: https://t.co/K2FvjTiZTT #indycarchallenge #indycar pic.twitter.com/Y6pvVzpu4c

— Simon Pagenaud (@simonpagenaud) April 11, 2020

Jett Lawrence remains perfect in the Pro Motocross series after recording another perfect round at Hangtown in Rancho Cordova, California. In his second start on a 450, Lawrence won his second National with his fourth consecutive moto win. It is getting increasingly difficult to find the right superlatives to describe the exploits on the reigning 250 West Supercross champion.

“The track was so brutal out there,” Lawrence told NBC Sports Jason Thomas. “The bike handles amazing even when it’s not too friendly. You had to be really patient; you couldn’t take too much. I didn’t eat enough before that second moto. I kind of lost energy halfway through, but luckily I could use technique and balance and just keep that flow going.”

Lawrence leaves Hangtown with an 18-point advantage over Ferrandis in the 450 Motocross standings, but perhaps more importantly, he climbed to 19th in the SuperMotocross standings and should he stay there, he has an automatic invitation to the Main events in the SMX Championship.

“On this track, you just have to manage,” Lawrence continued. “If you try to take too much and not respect the track, it will bite you very quickly. It was humbling on the first few laps. I got kicked on the cutout at the start of the third section, the tabletop going to the left. I had to get my focus because the boys were coming.”

Still in his first few races since returning from a concussion suffered at Houston in the Supercross series, Dylan Ferrandis finished second with results of third in Moto 1 and second in Moto 2. While Ferrandis was happy with the result, he remains hopeful that he will contend for victory shortly.

“The first moto was very hard for my physically, Ferrandis said. “I got arm pump and when you get arm pump your body gets tired. But I’m very happy because we made a big change for the second moto. We tried stuff every session today and in the last moto the bike was much better, but unfortunately I wasn’t sure what I could do with this bike because the track was very hard and difficult to pass.”

RESULTS: How they finished in the 450 Overall at Hangtown

With the rash of injuries at the end of the Supercross season, the podium was filled with heartwarming stories. Cooper Webb returned to action last week in Pala and failed to make the podium. He is steadily improving with a third-place finish in Hangtown. after finishing with a 4-2.

“It’s incredible what seven days can do,” Webb said. “Last week I felt like I was going to get lapped in the second moto. This week, I could see the leader. It was nice. I fought hard, learned how to suffer again there and that felt nice.

Moto 2 wasn’t pretty for Lawrence. On several occasions in the opening laps, he nearly high sided as he rode the front wheel through the ruts. The reward was worth the risk. By the halfway point, Lawrence had 4.5-second lead over Webb, who was embroiled in a tight three-rider battle for second with his teammate Aaron Plessinger pressuring him and Ferrandis ready to take advantage if those made contact.

It took 20 minutes for Plessinger to get around Webb and once he did, he trailed Lawrence by four seconds. But then, with three minutes remaining, Plessinger crashed and had difficulty restarting the bike, handing second back to Webb who has seven seconds behind Lawrence. Plessinger fell to fourth with results of third and sixth.

Adam Cianciarulo rounded out the top five with a 5-4.

Heartbreak for Aaron Plessinger as he was charging forward 💔#ProMotocross #SuperMotocross #HangtownMX pic.twitter.com/vQtKIsuhVg

— Pro Motocross (@ProMotocross) June 4, 2023

Last week Hunter Lawrence won the overall with a 3-1. He repeated that feat in Hangtown in an exact replica of his Fox Raceway results last week. In Moto 1, Lawrence got off to a slow start and lost 10 seconds in the opening laps. Forced to overcome a sixth-place position in the race at the end of Lap 1, he once again caught the riders ahead of him when the field hit heavy traffic. For the second week, scored another 3-1 for the Hangtown National win.

“The start was crucial’ I knew I had to go,” Lawrence told NBC Sports’ Jason Thomas. “They laid a lot of water down, so I didn’t want to be behind any longer than [I was]. First hot one of the year, was a bit of a wakeup call, so I’m happy to get out of here safe and healthy.”

Lawrence’s third-place finish in Moto 1 featured a fierce battle for final spot on the podium when he caught Spain’s Guillem Farres and France’s Tom Vialle. With Lawrence hailing from Australia, the international nature of the sport was highlighted.

Lawrence left Hangtown with a 10-point advantage over Haiden Deegan in the Pro Motocross championship battle.

Click here for 250 overall results

Justin Cooper finished second in both motos to finish second overall. Hangtown represented a huge improvement from Fox Raceway where he finished fifth overall with a 5-4 finish in the two motos. Cooper pressured Haiden Deegan in the second half of Moto 1 and he earned the holeshot in the second moto and stayed within three seconds of Lawrence in that race.

“He was following me a little bit, checking out my lines, seeing where he was better,” Cooper said. “It’s disappointing to give up the lead like that but it was way better than last weekend. I will definitely take two seconds. I want to be on the top of the step. I feel like I get close to the top step but I never get it done. That’s building up the frustration – the fire. I really want to get one of these wins, so it’s time to start digging.”

Haiden Deegan earned the first holeshot of his career in Moto 1 and rode away from the field, building a four-second lead in the opening laps. Cooper trimmed the lead at the halfway point and for a while it leveled off at two seconds. Then Cooper made another charge with three to go and closed to within a second. Deegan was biding his time, however.

“I was saving a little. I knew at the end Justin was going to try and put a charge on. I let him get up close and then sent it super hard at the end to break him a little at the end.”

Deegan’s first moto win comes in only his fourth National and he remains perfect in regard to podiums this year.

“This was a dream since I was a little kid, to win,” Deegan said. “And in my fourth race, it’s gnarly. I was just sending it. I was getting a little tired at the end becasue I left my mouth open the whole time. It’s unreal; I’m so hyped. I wanted to win bad and I proved it to you guys.”

Chaos erupted in turn 1 in Moto 2 Jeremy Martin went and another rider ran over his arm. Michael Mosiman crashed further down the track on that same lap. Both riders were helped off course by the Alpinestars Medical team.

Deegan grabs his first 250 Mx moto win!1️⃣#ProMotocross #SuperMotocross #HangtownMX pic.twitter.com/1FH5s1ZHfn

— Pro Motocross (@ProMotocross) June 3, 2023

2023 Motocross Race Recaps

Fox Raceway: Jett Lawrence wins in first 450 start

2023 Supercross Race Recaps

Salt Lake City: Chase Sexton ends the season with win
Denver: Chase Sexton wins, takes points’ lead with Eli Tomac injury
Nashville: Chase Sexton keeps hope alive; Cooper Webb out
New Jersey: Justin Barcia wins muddy race; first in two years
Atlanta: Chase Sexton is back in the championship picture
Glendale: Eli Tomac wins 51st, breaks tie with James Stewart
Seattle: Eli Tomac wins and ties Webb for first
Detroit: Chase Sexton inherits win after Aaron Plessinger falls
Indianapolis: Ken Roczen gets first win in more than a year
Daytona: Eli Tomac extends Daytona record with seventh win
Arlington: Cooper Webb wins for second time, closes to two of Tomac
Oakland: Eli Tomac ties Ricky Carmichael with 48 wins
Tampa: Cooper Webb gets first 2023 win
Houston: Eli Tomac bounces back from A2 crash to win third race of 2023
Anaheim 2: Triple Crown produces new winners Chase Sexton, Levi Kitchen
San Diego: Eli Tomac, Jett Lawrence double down
Anaheim 1: Eli Tomac wins opener for the first time