IndyCar: Unofficial iRacing standings after Circuit of the Americas

Take a look at the unofficial championship standings of the IndyCar iRacing Challenge following Lando Norris’s victory at virtual Circuit of the Americas.

The penultimate race of the six-race IndyCar iRacing Challenge took place Saturday afternoon at virtual Circuit of the Americas. This series is serving as the virtual replacement for the 2020 NTT IndyCar Series season due to the coronavirus pandemic.

IndyCar postponements and cancellations: TRACKER

There was scheduled to be a real IndyCar race at the 20-turn, 3.427-mile (5.515-kilometer) Circuit of the Americas natural terrain road course in Austin, Texas this afternoon, but that race was one of the races that was canceled due to the pandemic. The series visited the track for the first time last March.

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The race at virtual Circuit of the Americas was the second race that took place at a virtual version of a venue which would have hosted a real race. Virtual Barber Motorsports Park hosted a race three weekends ago, when it was scheduled to host a real race.

The other three tracks that have hosted races thus far are virtual Watkins Glen International, virtual Michigan International Speedway and virtual Twin Ring Motegi.

A total of 41 drivers have competed in at least one of the first five races of the IndyCar iRacing Challenge. Of these 41 drivers, 22 have competed in all five races, four have competed in four, two have competed in three, six have competed in two and seven have competed in only one.

Of the seven drivers who have competed in only one race, three competed in the race at virtual Circuit of the Americas. One of those three, Formula 1 driver Lando Norris, won the race after overcoming a spin. He started from the pole position and overcame his miscue en route to re-taking the lead after race leader Felix Rosenqvist spun with four of the race’s 32 laps remaining.

The other two drivers who made their series debuts in this race were Supercars driver Chaz Mostert, who finished in 20th place, and Spencer Pigot, who finished in 25th.

Points are not officially awarded for results, pole positions, laps led or most laps led in these IndyCar iRacing Challenge races like they would be in real IndyCar races. But let’s take a look at what the championship standings would be following the virtual race at Circuit of the Americas if IndyCar’s scoring system were being used for this virtual series.

Position – Driver: Points (Behind)
1st – Simon Pagenaud: 176 (0)
1st – Will Power: 176 (0)
3rd – Scott McLaughlin: 161 (-15)
4th – Felix Rosenqvist: 129 (-47)
5th – Sage Karam: 114 (-62)
6th – Santino Ferrucci: 103 (-73)
7th – Graham Rahal: 95 (-81)
8th – Alex Palou: 94 (-82)
9th – Josef Newgarden: 90 (-86)
10th – Marcus Ericsson: 87 (-89)
11th – Scott Dixon: 79 (-97)
12th – Jack Harvey: 76 (-100)
13th – Dalton Kellett: 75 (-101)
14th – Pato O’Ward: 74 (-102)
15th – Zach Veach: 72 (-104)
16th – Colton Herta: 68 (-108)
16th – Alexander Rossi: 68 (-108)
16th – Conor Daly: 68 (-108)
19th – Robert Wickens: 66 (-110)
20th – Oliver Askew: 65 (-111)
21st – Felipe Nasr: 57 (-119)
22nd – Ed Carpenter: 55 (-121)
22nd – Kyle Kaiser: 55 (-121)
24th – Lando Norris: 54 (-122)
25th – Sebastien Bourdais: 50 (-126)
26th – Scott Speed: 45 (-131)
27th – Ryan Hunter-Reay: 44 (-132)
28th – James Hinchcliffe: 42 (-134)
29th – Tony Kanaan: 35 (-141)
29th – Dale Earnhardt Jr.: 35 (-141)
31st – Rinus VeeKay: 33 (-143)
32nd – Kyle Kirkwood: 32 (-144)
32nd – Jimmie Johnson: 32 (-144)
34th – Takuma Sato: 23 (-153)
35th – Max Chilton: 19 (-157)
36th – Kyle Busch: 17 (-159)
37th – James Davison: 15 (-161)
38th – Chaz Mostert: 10 (-166)
38th – Marco Andretti: 10 (-166)
40th – Spencer Pigot: 5 (-171)
40th – Helio Castroneves: 5 (-171)

Simon Pagenaud, the lone two-time race winner of the IndyCar iRacing Challenge, is now tied with Will Power atop the unofficial championship standings, and it is still a 1-2-3 Team Penske sweep with Scott McLaughlin, the winner at virtual Barber Motorsports Park, in third place.

Pagenaud won the races in each of the last two weekends at virtual Michigan International Speedway and virtual Twin Ring Motegi leading up to the race at virtual Circuit of the Americas, where he finished in 14th place, his personal worst. He had not finished lower than sixth prior to this race.

Power also recorded his worst finish of the IndyCar iRacing Challenge in this race, a sixth place result. His worst finish of sixth is eight positions better than the second worst best finish (Pagenaud’s 14th place finish) among all drivers who have competed in each of the five races. He is still, however, searching for his first win.

Sage Karam is the other race winner of the IndyCar iRacing Challenge thus far. He won the opener at virtual Watkins Glen. His 33rd (last) place finish at virtual Circuit of the Americas dropped him behind Felix Rosenqvist for fourth in the championship standings, as Rosenqvist placed third.

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The sixth and final race on the IndyCar iRacing Challenge schedule is scheduled to take place next Saturday, May 2 at virtual Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and it is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET.