By: Tanner Watkins
May 19, 2020 | 12:00 PM
Riding the momentum of the current sim racing wave, The Race All-Star Series powered by ROKiT Phone will host their latest round at the virtual Indianapolis Motor Speedway this Saturday. The event will be shown live on ESPN (and Eurosport in the UK) at Noon Eastern on May 23.
This stop in the race for the Legends Trophy will feature a variety of faces familiar to the Brickyard – as well as a few notables who have yet to compete on the 2.5-mile oval.
Former Indianapolis 500 winners Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, Juan Pablo Montoya, Helio Castroneves, Gil de Ferran, Dario Franchitti, and Tony Kanaan will bring a combined 13 wins in the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” to the event this weekend.
For Andretti, Saturday’s event will be his first foray into sim racing.
“I have a pretty steep learning curve ahead of me. It’s been a long time since I’ve been a rookie at Indianapolis,” Andretti said. “I’m trying to learn as quickly as possible and I hope I can deal with some of these young stars. I’ll just commit and hope I’m competitive.”
Not to be outdone, other stars in this cast will include Formula One World Champions Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso, David Brabham, Max Papis, Adrián Fernández, Bryan Herta, Oriol Servia, Andy Priaulx, and many more.
While it isn’t quite the real thing, Franchitti will be just as excited to cross the Yard of Bricks ahead of peers with careers just as storied and decorated as his.
“It’s a place that changed my life forever by virtue of my three Indy 500 victories,” says the three-time “500” winner. “While the rewards are brilliant, the pressure and stress to perform and make no mistakes at the speedway can be intense.
“It is definitely the ultimate motor racing high-wire act without a safety net. This virtual return will be ultra-competitive going against my pals, but definitely less stressful if something goes awry. I’ve sipped the real milk but some virtual milk would taste pretty good winning against these legendary names from so many disciplines of the sport.”
The race will be contested on the realistic rFactor 2 platform while drivers take part in the event from the comfort of their homes. The Race All-Star Series powered by ROKiT Phones was created by Torque Esports, which expanded last Monday with the acquisition of Frankly Inc. and WinView, Inc.
Header image courtesy of Torque Esport.
