Robert Maleczka III wins from the pole in INDYCAR ButtKicker iRacing Pro Series race at Indianapolis oval

After five races in the inaugural INDYCAR ButtKicker iRacing Pro Series season, there have now been five different winners following Thursday’s race at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval. PRIVATE LABEL Team Hype’s Robert Maleczka III added his name to the list of winners so far, holding off a pair of Coanda Esports drivers—Michael Romanidis and Elliott Vayron—in the final green flag laps of the night. 

The race ended under caution after a multi-car pileup on the frontstretch with four laps remaining. It did stay green long enough for a full green flag pit stop cycle, however, which allowed Maleczka III to lead 24 of the 66 laps, battling with teammate Jason Brophy and Apex Racing Team’s Brandon Traino for most of the day. The victory launches Maleczka III into seventh in the standings, 40 points behind Team Redline’s Cooper Webster for the lead. Maleczka III’s other teammate, Philip Kraus, finished fourth and jumped up to fourth in the points, 31 behind Webster.

“This is big, not only for me, but the team in general,” Maleczka III said post-race. “Our bread and butter is the ovals, and for me to get the win, that should move me up a few spots in the points. For Phil (Kraus) to get P4, that’s massive for him to close the gap to the leader ahead in points. The team did a great job over the last week on the setup. We made some small but really crucial changes that ultimately got us the pace to not only qualify up front, but to get the win.”

From the pole position, Maleczka III spent the day in the top two spots, swapping with Brophy for both speed and fuel strategy. A 66-lap race is indicative of a one-stop strategy, but a car in front at full fuel burn would be wary of making it last long enough alone in front. There were early bits of contact, including one moment that broke the front wing on another PRIVATE LABEL Team Hype machine, Josh Chin’s, which forced him down a lap for the entire race.

A caution on the 11th lap gave the leaders a bit of relief on the fuel number, as Coanda Esports’ Jordan Caruso made contact with Drago Racing’s Ricardo Rico, also collecting Team Redline’s Sam Kuitert barely. The race continued back under green, and the strategies began to form over the long run.

Most positions stayed stagnant, but Team I5G’s Jacob Oster made a good amount of moves, starting ninth to get up to fourth over the course of the run. This moved the Apex Racing Team-mates of Luke McKeown and Peter Berryman down the order, into the clutches of the lapped Chin car, as well as Kraus. A few close calls, including massive contact between Luis Núñez and Adam Crane, did scare some into pitting early, hoping for a perfectly timed yellow, but for the most part, pit road didn’t get busy until after halfway.

Still out front, Maleczka III and Brophy continued to trade the lead. Brophy led the most laps out of anyone, 29, but when it came time to pit, his race unraveled. Maleczka III and Brophy pitted with 31 laps to go, the red #91 out front with the bright green #88 trailing. As they entered their stalls, Maleczka III’s car went up for tires, while Brophy’s did not. Whether the call was intentional or not, no tires on the #88 forced Brophy into a free fall to the back as those with new tires worked their way around.

There were other instances through the cycle that took other contenders out of contention. Last week’s winner, McKeown, went too deep into the pit entry, locking up the tires into a slide which caused race-ending damage to his right front suspension. Coanda Esports’ Michael Janney also pushed it too deep into the pits, forcing a black flag, which eventually resulted in a crash and retirement moments later in what looked to be a moment of frustration.

A beat with just over 25 laps to go nearly sent the race into caution, as Team Redline’s Florian Lebigre drifted around the corner into a beautiful save after a near-three-wide situation with Brophy and Williams Esports’ Sota Muto. Moments later, the caution did fall, with just over 10 laps to go, as Kraus and Berryman came together, sending the latter back up into traffic, which somehow nobody else managed to get involved.

The decision to pit would be crucial depending on how many opted in or out. Maleczka III stayed out, but the next two behind—Traino and Oster—decided to come in. This gave the bottom two steps on the podium to Romanidis and Vayron, but more importantly for the two that pitted, it mired them out of the conversation, with Traino restarting all the way back in 18th.

On the restart, the Coanda duo pressured Maleczka III, at one point forcing three-wide into Turn 3 with Vayron up top and Romanidis on the bottom. The iRacing Indy 500 winner from earlier in the year, Maleczka III backed out of the situation and corner, watching Vayron miss the entry to the corner and Romanidis slide up out of the groove. This allowed the switch back, as Maleczka III powered to the bottom lane, shooting past the pair by the exit of Turn 4.

In the back, Traino wasn’t making any ground, when suddenly his race ended after Powerslide Motorsports’ Jeff Drake and Lebigre made contact on his left, crashing up and into the Indianapolis specialist. This set up the race for one final restart with four laps to go. As the field took the green, they simultaneously crashed around 15th. Oster managed to escape through for a 14th place finish, but it sent Webster down the order and into finishing 16th, his worst result of the season.

Up front and with no overtime to worry about, Maleczka III paced out the final three-and-a-half laps behind the pace car to score the victory over Romanidis and Vayron. Kraus and Privateer driver Xavi Ros rounded out the top-five.

INDYCAR ButtKicker iRacing Pro Series results from Race #5 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval are as follows:

INDYCAR ButtKicker iRacing Pro Series points after Race #5 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval are as follows:

1. Cooper Webster, 159
2. Diogo C. Pinto, 147
3. Gustavo Ariel, 134
4. Philip Kraus, 128
5. Luke McKeown, 126
6. Sam Kuitert, 121
7. Robert Maleczka III, 119
8. Florian A Lebigre, 117
9. Edoardo Leo, 111
10. Elliott Vayron, 104

With half of the season still to go, the road warriors from Team Redline now only have the top-three positions, with Webster, Diogo Pinto, and Gustavo Ariel in those spots. Kraus moves up to fourth, and with more ovals left in the season than road courses, that could spell a heated battle for the championship. McKeown, who again showed promise throughout the day, ends up 28th and falls down to fifth in the points. Berryman also showed pace and left with nothing to show for it, falling outside the top-10.

Next up on the schedule is the penultimate road race of the season at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course.. During the Qualifying Series season, in the final round of the Qualifying Series, it was Jordan Caruso who took the checkers in the top split race, defeating Jose Soria and Edoardo Leo for the victory.

The broadcast for Mid Ohio goes live at 8:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, October 24th, on all iRacing social channels and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES YouTube channel and website.

For more information on the INDYCAR ButtKicker iRacing Pro Series, visit www.iracing.com/indycar-esports/. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

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