By: Tanner Watkins
April 1, 2020 | 1:00 PM
No this isn’t an April Fools joke – IndyCar sim racing is moving to center stage with an appearance on NBCSN this weekend.
In the second round of the INDYCAR iRacing Challenge, the stars of American open-wheel racing will compete on iRacing’s version of Barber Motorsports Park with a live broadcast of the action starting at 2:30 PM ET.
The event will make history as the first IndyCar iRacing race aired on television, joining NASCAR and the World of Outlaws as major sporting entities in the United States with motorsports events on television.
Saturday’s broadcast will feature the same commentary team that is found on regular IndyCar on NBC telecasts: Leigh Diffey as the lead announcer with Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy as analysts.
Per IndyCar, more than 24 drivers are expected to compete in this weekend’s event after Dreyer & Reinbold’s Sage Karam took the opening round victory at Watkins Glen International. In addition to stars such as Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud, Alexander Rossi, and James Hinchcliffe, five-time series champion Scott Dixon is also expected to compete.
And one more curveball: The potential for Robert Wickens to make his INDYCAR iRacing Challenge debut is still on the table, which would ramp up the excitement levels even more.
Tune into the INDYCAR iRacing Challenge, live from iRacing’s version of Barber Motorsports Park on Saturday at 2:30 PM ET, only on NBCSN.
Header image by Chris Graythen/Getty Images.
