IndyCar: Controversy dominates final iRacing event at Indy

The IndyCar iRacing Challenge finale was plagued with controversy, which was not intended when the series was created amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The virtual IndyCar series that was started to be a stress reliever for fans and drivers alike amid the coronavirus pandemic largely served its purpose, but the finale at virtual Indianapolis Motor Speedway left a sour taste in the mouths of many.

The closing laps of the sixth and final race of the IndyCar iRacing Challenge were loaded with crashes around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) oval in Speedway, Indiana.

The controversy began when McLaren Formula 1 driver Lando Norris tried to make a three-wide pass on the inside of turn two for the lead.

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Norris survived the move to take the lead, but it got Graham Rahal loose in the middle, which got Simon Pagenaud loose on the outside and sent him into the wall, ending his chance to win.

Pagenaud, who later stated, “We take Lando out. Let’s do it!”, ended up getting repairs and coming out of the pits a few seconds ahead of Norris, still the race leader, on the track, albeit multiple laps down. In an attempt to “slow him down” while coming into the pits again, Pagenaud got into Norris’s way and Norris slammed into him, which ended Norris’s chance to win the race.

While nobody has tried to defend Pagenaud’s move, even if the wreck itself was unintentional, Norris blamed the successful retaliation attempt on the misconception that Pagenaud was “a bit salty that a non-IndyCar driver is about to win an Indy race”.

Considering the fact that Norris, who is admittedly inexperienced in oval racing but has more than a decade of experience on iRacing, had literally just ended Pagenaud’s race via a move that would never fly in real life, this could not be further off the mark and will do nothing but widen the divide between the fanbases of the two series.

Then on the final lap, former Formula 1 driver Marcus Ericsson took the lead away from Norris’s two Arrow McLaren SP teammates, Oliver Askew and Patricio O’Ward, heading into turn three.

Heading into turn four, O’Ward slammed into Ericsson, taking him out and handing the lead back to Askew. Coming to the checkered flag, Santino Ferrucci slammed into Askew, taking both drivers out and securing an unlikely 1-2 finish for Scott McLaughlin and Conor Daly.

It was an all-out demolition derby that did not resemble the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” in the slightest.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown responded to the controversy with what amounts to two very interesting tweets given the actions of his own drivers, not only in this race but in other virtual races in recent weeks.

Not what you expect from a champion
— Zak Brown (@ZBrownCEO) May 3, 2020

I’m not surprised.....
— Zak Brown (@ZBrownCEO) May 3, 2020

Let’s make one thing clear: Brown isn’t wrong to share these tweets in either situation. His points are short, sweet, to the point, and above all, accurate.

But where were these tweets when Indy Lights champion Askew, one of his drivers, took out McLaughlin while running a lap off the lead lap late in the race at virtual Twin Ring Motegi, a race in which McLaughlin had just taken the lead?

McLaughlin is also, by the way, a non-Indy driver, one who didn’t take to Twitch to complain about IndyCar drivers being biased against him simply because he is not an IndyCar driver — and he is a non-IndyCar driver who didn’t take out another IndyCar driver via a way too aggressive move to begin with, unlike Norris, also one of Brown’s drivers.

He is a two-time Supercars champion who has never competed in an IndyCar race in his life, yet he won the unofficial IndyCar iRacing Challenge with a win at a road course and a win at an oval.

Better yet, where was this tweet with Indy Lights champion O’Ward, also one of Brown’s drivers, wrecked Ericsson out of the race lead in the final turn on the final lap, which literally happened a few minutes after the Norris/Pagenaud incident and a few seconds before the Ferrucci/Askew incident?

Sure, iRacing is more than just a video game, and to suggest that it isn’t demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of what is at stake and the investment required by all parties on multiple levels to make this series possible.

But it’s more than just a video game for everybody, not just select drivers or select teams at select times when and where it’s convenient, and the fallout from this past weekend’s race is nowhere near representative of the purpose of the series.

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Hopefully this will all blow over and real racing can get back underway as scheduled, as there are no more IndyCar iRacing Challenge races scheduled. The 2020 IndyCar season is scheduled to begin on Saturday, June 6 at Texas Motor Speedway with the Genesys 600. The now 15-race schedule remains subject to change.