There was no stopping 17-year-old Edoardo Leo in the opening round of the IndyCar Buttkicker iRacing Pro Series.
Once the leading position was secured, the Italian never looked troubled, even when differing tyre strategies by his rivals meant a temporary loss of first place.
The top three drivers on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course grid were from perennial esports outfit Team Redline, with Leo taking pole position just 0.007s from team-mate Sam Kuitert and Florian Lebigre in third. David Toth lined up in fourth for Drago Racing.
At the start of 37 laps on the iRacing simulation, the Max Verstappen-affiliated team flew in formation, careful not to trip over each other through the 90-degree opening corner.
Apex Racing Team’s Peter Berryman scythed passed both Toth and Gustavo Ariel (yet another Redline driver) to move from sixth to fourth. He would make further use of the alternate softer tyre and make it to second by the end of the first lap.
Leo would hold on until the start of the fourth lap but was powerless to defend on the primary rubber. Similarly, Berryman’s colleague Luke McKeown made the most of a differing tyre strategy to vault from seventh to third.
It was all in vein, however – 12 laps in, those equipped with primary tyres started to rise, with Leo re-taking the lead from 2021 Dallara iRacing world champion Berryman.
Sensing a similar fate, McKeown dived into pitroad at the end of lap 15 to opt for the more durable compound. His second-placed squad member Berryman followed suit one tour later.
Order restored, Redline one-two-three up front with Ariel and Diogo C. Pinto for the team in fifth and sixth. The only driver not getting the memo was Toth in fourth, who with 18 laps to go, made an unforced error into the final chicane.
The resulting grass exploration meant the Hungarian driver dropped to sixth.
Once the leading septet had swapped onto the alternate tyres, and breezed back by the two Apex Racing drivers now using primary rubber, that was a Redline clean sweep of the top five positions complete.
“I had a plan, [to] stay with Peter [Berryman] as much as possible as he was starting on the softs,” said Leo.
“I stayed in his tow, and then got him back halfway through the stint and just did my race from there.”
2024 IndyCar Buttkicker iRacing Pro Series Round 1 results
- Edoardo Leo – Team Redline – 37 laps
- Florian Lebigre – Team Redline +5.246
- Sam Kuitert – Team Redline +8.122
- Gustavo Ariel – Team Redline +8.380
- Diogo C. Pinto – Team Redline +8.700
- Luke McKeown – Apex Racing Team +8.775
- Ricardo Rico – Drago Racing +10.384
- David Toth – Drago Racing +11.682
- Peter Berryman – Apex Racing Team +11.809
- Michele Costantini – Coanda Esports +13.564
