While the COVID-19 pandemic has postponed the beginning of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course’s season for race fans, the Morrow County racetrack is seeing action on a virtual level.
Mid-Ohio was featured Saturday afternoon as the fifth and final race for the Road to Indy iRacing season. As a result of racing series being postponed, many drivers are taking part in the virtual racing simulations run by iRacing, which are then broadcast.
Saturday’s Road to Indy event featured drivers participating in the feeder series for IndyCar.
Winning Saturday’s 45-minute, 34-lap Mid-Ohio event was an Ohio driver in New Albany’s Braden Eves. For Eves, winning the race was a pleasing development. While he was last year’s USF2000 champ, his best performance in his two races at Mid-Ohio was seventh.
Taking second was Phillippe Denes, who claimed the overall virtual championship with that finish. Eduardo Barichello claimed third in the race. He finished second in the overall standings, while Eves took third.
Mid-Ohio will be the setting for another virtual event this week, as IMSA will compete there via iRacing on Thursday at 6 p.m. The event can be viewed via multiple online sites, including: youtube.com/user/iRacingTV , facebook.com/iracing and twitch.tv/iracing . Originally, the real-life Mid-Ohio IMSA event was set for this weekend, but has been postponed until Sept. 25-27 due to coronavirus.