Scott McLaughlin was supposed to leave Australia for Indianapolis this month to make his IndyCar debut on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but with sports on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two-time V8 SuperCars champion saw his IndyCar plans postponed.
Instead, McLaughlin on Saturday settled for a virtual victory on the oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway — his second win of IndyCar’s iRacing six-race series — after a wild finish in which most of the leaders crashed as they rushed toward the checkered flag.
“Unbelievable,” McLaughlin said. “I was literally just hoping there was going to be a wreck at the end. I thought we were going to be third, and then the three wrecked and we won.”
Photo: AFP
McLaughlin celebrated in the seat of his simulator in Australia with a glass of cold milk, a nod to the traditional victory celebration at the Indianapolis 500, although he declined to pour it over his head while sitting in his expensive rig.
Formula One driver Lando Norris, winner of last week’s IndyCar virtual race, was headed for what appeared to be a one-two-three podium sweep for the Arrow McLaren SP entries on the final lap, but he ran into the back of Simon Pagenaud — a two-time iRacing winner and the defending Indy 500 champion — to take himself out of contention.
Then Oliver Askew and Pato O’Ward crashed, cars were sailing airborne and McLaughlin slid through the carnage to give Team Penske drivers their fourth win in the six-race series.
In this series created for content while IndyCar is on hold, McLaughlin and Pagenaud won twice, while Norris and Sage Karam took one apiece.
Conor Daly finished second and was followed by Santino Ferrucci, who thought there would be a lot of angry drivers after the 175-mile race.
“So many people are going to be salty over that,” Ferrucci said. “It’s a video game. Let’s try to have some fun.”
Daly, who has earned new fame through the iRacing series for his colorful commentary on his in-race stream, again delivered with one-liners and a humorous post-race speech.
“Quite a day on the Internet today — it was an electric factory of a race. It was hilarious at the same time. I think we were involved in three accidents,” Daly said.
He then walked viewers through his setup from his Indianapolis home.
“I am sitting on one of four kitchen table chairs that are from downstairs. There is a mattress behind me — there’s not really much room for a simulator,” Daly added. “My pedals are currently being supported by a box with a big, full thing of batteries on top of it because that provided some extra weight and stability. So yeah, pretty technological setup here in the Conor Daly Tech Center.”
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