It was all Sage Karam at the front of the pack in Saturday’s American Red Cross Grand Prix, the opening round of the IndyCar iRacing Challenge from Watkins Glen International. Save for a couple of pit stops, the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing driver and longtime iRacer nearly led all 45 laps to score a relatively comfortable victory over Chip Ganassi Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist. Team Penske’s Will Power completed the podium.
25 drivers attempted to take on the full Watkins Glen layout, which last appeared on the real-world NTT IndyCar Series schedule in 2017. However, as real-world racers attempted to adjust to the popular road course’s digital counterpart, only seven were able to complete every lap of the event—and many big names suffered incidents along the way.
In the end, however, all four Team Penske drivers managed to take home lead lap finishes, as did Oliver Askew, who made his virtual Arrow McLaren SP debut with a strong fifth place finish. Askew and Pato O’Ward were nearly joined in today’s event by Robert Wickens, but delays in shipping necessary equipment will delay the Canadian’s return to action until next week’s event at Barber Motorsports Park. The other big-name guest driver, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series driver Jimmie Johnson, suffered a pair of incidents during the event and ended up 16th.
American Red Cross Grand Prix Results
Full results from Saturday’s IndyCar iRacing Challenge event at Watkins Glen International are as follows:
Fin. | St. | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Led | Interval | Best |
| 1 | 1 | 24 | Sage Karam | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | Chevrolet | 45 | 43 | 0 | 1:25.671 |
| 2 | 2 | 10 | Felix Rosenqvist | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 45 | 0 | -3.618 | 1:26.066 |
| 3 | 3 | 12 | Will Power | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 45 | 2 | -11.416 | 1:25.623 |
| 4 | 7 | 2 | Scott T McLaughlin | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 45 | 0 | -47.922 | 1:26.477 |
| 5 | 5 | 7 | Oliver Askew | Arrow McLaren SP | Chevrolet | 45 | 0 | -50.435 | 1:26.548 |
| 6 | 8 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 45 | 0 | -1:22.711 | 1:26.291 |
| 7 | 9 | 1 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 45 | 0 | -1:26.439 | 1:26.333 |
| 8 | 21 | 18 | Santino Ferrucci | Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan | Honda | 44 | 0 | -1 L | 1:27.353 |
| 9 | 11 | 28 | Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 44 | 0 | -1 L | 1:27.189 |
| 10 | 23 | 20 | Conor Daly | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | 44 | 0 | -1 L | 1:28.060 |
| 11 | 17 | 41 | Dalton Kellett | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Chevrolet | 44 | 0 | -1 L | 1:27.515 |
| 12 | 16 | 11 | Kyle Kaiser | Juncos Racing | Chevrolet | 44 | 0 | -1 L | 1:27.932 |
| 13 | 18 | 5 | Patricio OWard | Arrow McLaren SP | Chevrolet | 43 | 0 | -2 L | 1:27.164 |
| 14 | 12 | 15 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 43 | 0 | -2 L | 1:26.983 |
| 15 | 14 | 59 | Felipe Nasr | Carlin | Chevrolet | 43 | 0 | -2 L | 1:26.188 |
| 16 | 19 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Jimmie Johnson Racing | Chevrolet | 43 | 0 | -2 L | 1:28.195 |
| 17 | 10 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 42 | 0 | -3 L | 1:27.110 |
| 18 | 15 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 40 | 0 | -5 L | 1:26.671 |
| 19 | 24 | 26 | Zach Veach | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 40 | 0 | -5 L | 1:27.200 |
| 20 | 6 | 55 | Alex Palou | Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh | Honda | 37 | 0 | -8 L | 1:26.406 |
| 21 | 4 | 98 | Scott Speed | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 21 | 0 | -24 L | 1:26.420 |
| 22 | 22 | 88 | Colton Herta | Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport | Honda | 10 | 0 | -35 L | 1:27.145 |
| 23 | 13 | 4 | Sebastien Bourdais | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Chevrolet | 8 | 0 | -37 L | 1:27.559 |
| 24 | 20 | 14 | Tony Kanaan | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Chevrolet | 2 | 0 | -43 L | |
| 25 | 25 | 29 | James Hinchcliffe | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 0 | 0 | -45 L |
The IndyCar iRacing Challenge resumes on Saturday, April 4 at 4PM ET from Barber Motorsports Park. Once again, the event can be streamed at IndyCar.com and across IndyCar’s social media channels. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.
