Scott McLaughlin took victory in the final round of the IndyCar iRacing Challenge at a virtual Indianapolis Motor Speedway after late chaos saw a number of front-runners crash out.
Two-time Supercars champion McLaughlin scored his second win of the six-race schedule despite running fifth with half a lap to go, benefitting from two big accidents ahead.
Pole-sitter McLaughlin lost the lead early on to McLaren Formula 1 driver Lando Norris and Indy 500 regular James Davison, but remained in contention at the front through the opening stages of the 70-lap race.
Norris was joined in the battle for the lead by McLaughlin’s Penske team-mate, Will Power, only for the Australian to clash with Scott Speed and Stefan Wilson at half-distance, sparking a caution period.
Norris managed to avoid getting caught up in the incident by virtue of an earlier pit stop. Further incidents eliminated Josef Newgarden, Takuma Sato and Sage Karam, allowing Motegi and Michigan race winner Simon Pagenaud to vault for the front of the field ahead of the final restart with nine laps to go.
Norris was able to quickly pick his way back to the front along with McLaren Arrow SP team-mates Oliver Askew and Pato O’Ward, but was then eliminated after clashing with Pagenaud with two laps remaining in what appeared to be a deliberate move from the Penske IndyCar regular.
This opened the door for Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson and Dale Coyne Racing’s Santino Ferrucci to join the battle for victory on the final lap.
Ericsson held the lead before being tagged by O’Ward at the final corner, leaving Ferrucci and Askew in a drag race to the line.
But as Askew neared victory, Ferrucci side-swiped the McLaren racer in a contemptuous move that caused both cars to spear into the wall just yards from the line, opening the door for McLaughlin to snatch victory.
Conor Daly was another beneficiary of the late carnage, snatching second place, while Ferrucci was classified third despite causing the crash.
Askew was classified fourth ahead of McLaren team-mate O’Ward, while Sebastien Bourdais took sixth place overall ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay.