Race Preview: American Red Cross iRX of Indianapolis
May 1st, 2020 by Chris Leone
TUNE IN // 6PM ET // iRacing.com/live
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The second half of the Subaru iRX All-Star Invitational presented by Yokohama season kicks off tonight with a visit to Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis for the American Red Cross iRX of Indianapolis. The deceptively simple course has proven to be highly challenging for some of the biggest names on the grid, and should feature plenty of wheel-to-wheel beating and banging throughout today’s action. Here’s a look at what to expect coming into the third round of the six-race season:
The Track: Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis hosted real-world rallycross in July 2017, and the course layout made its way onto iRacing for the launch of rallycross on the service. The track layout may not be complex, but looks can be deceiving, as top drivers have struggled with the tight hairpins and merge with the Joker Lap. To prevent carnage, the first-lap Joker will not be allowed for Friday’s race.
Last Week: Mitchell deJong made it three wins in a row last week at Sonoma Raceway, albeit in somewhat controversial fashion after a Lap 4 run-in with World Rally Championship star Craig Breen. Sami-Matti Trogen was second, while Breen held off Cabot Bigham for third place in a spirited battle for the final podium spot in just his second race in the series.
Driver to Watch: Parker Kligerman has established himself as one of iRacing’s top dual threats in pro driver competition, running up front on a regular basis in the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series and adding two straight main event appearances and a podium in iRX. The Burton Kligerman eSports owner has been a longtime proponent of sim racing, and his team is among the most active eNASCAR teams as they expand their presence into multiple other iRacing events for 2020.
Yokohama Pole Position Award: 2019 iRX World Champion Sami-Matti Trogen broke Mitchell deJong’s two-race pole streak, taking his first Yokohama Pole Position Award of the season in his third official race with Williams Esports. The award was handcrafted in the US by Bear Walker, who makes custom and limited edition boards with carved out grip for better traction. Visit him at bearwalker.com or @bearwalkerofficial on Instagram.
Nitro Circus Star Car: The Nitro Circus Star Car welcomes Josh Sheehan to the driver’s seat in Indianapolis. In 2015, “Sheeny” became the first rider to ever pull off a triple backflip on a dirtbike at Pastranaland, and has tallied numerous X-Fighters victories and X Games medals in an illustrious freestyle career. Follow @nitrocircus and @sheenyfmx on Instagram for more from this week’s race!
American Red Cross iRX of Indianapolis Expected Entry List
No. |
Driver Name |
Team/Primary Sponsor |
0 | Josh Sheehan | Nitro Circus Star Car |
1 | Sami-Matti Trogen | Williams Esports/Chillblast |
2 | Cabot Bigham | Jim Beaver eSports/DirtFish |
3 | Travis PeCoy | Loenbro Motorsports/Factory Canopies |
13 | Andreas Bakkerud | Monster Energy RX Cartel |
20 | Conor Daly | Ed Carpenter Racing/US Air Force |
21 | Conner Martell | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Simcraft |
22 | Chad Reed | cbdMD/Mountain Motorsports/Boost Mobile |
22 | Blake “Bilko” Williams | Team Yokohama |
23 | Tyler Menninga | Heatwave |
24 | Mitchell deJong | Coanda Simsport/Virtual Racing School |
27 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport/NAPA/AutoNation |
28 | Ron Capps | Don Schumacher Racing/NAPA/Pennzoil |
29 | James Hinchcliffe | Andretti Autosport/Genesys |
39 | Kevin Swindell | Swindell SpeedLab/Racing Electronics/HMS |
40 | Ryan Truex | Marquis Spas and Hot Tubs |
41 | Scott Speed | Subaru Motorsports USA |
42 | Craig Breen | VRA Racing/Keltech/CJJ Motorsports |
44 | Christian Brooks | American Red Cross |
51 | Garrett Smithley | American Red Cross |
55 | Chris Atkinson | Team Yokohama |
64 | Tim Stevens | CNET Roadshow |
71 | Kevin Hansen | Yellow Squad RX/Red Bull/Hansen |
77 | Parker Kligerman | Burton Kligerman eSports/Valvoline |
96 | Oriol Servia | American Red Cross |
180 | Brandon Semenuk | Subaru Motorsports USA |
199 | Travis Pastrana | Subaru Motorsports USA |