Lando Norris gives Arrow McLaren SP first victory in NTT INDYCAR SERIES IRacing Challenge with teammate Pato O’Ward second

Chevrolet remains unbeaten in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES IRacing Challenge and Arrow McLaren SP scored the teams’ first win and capped that with a one-two finish.
 
McLaren F1 second year driver Lando Norris took his first attempt at an INDYCAR IRacing and drove right to the top of the podium at the Virtual Circuit of The Americas.
 
Full-time Arrow McLarn SP INDYCAR driver Pato O’Ward finished a close second to his teammate.
 
“It was not easy,” said Norris. “It was a tough race but especially close to the end with Pato closing down with new tires. I didn’t think I was going to get back to the lead so I was kind of gutted. But I got the call from my engineer to keep pushing, so I did. And we got there and got the win.”
 
But the young Englishman didn’t make it easy on himself. He spun coming back up to speed after the first of his two pit stops and had to make up a lot of lost positions as the laps clicked. Once he got his rhythm back, he put on a determined march to the front.
 
“I have worked to get the best equipment I can so I can come as close as possible to replicating a real car on track which I think is a benefit with everything that is going on, I can drive almost every single day and keep progressing.”
 
Today’s runner-up finish was the best for O’Ward in the five events run in the six race series.
 
“It was good, but man, Lando is so good in the sim,” said O’Ward. “I have a lot to work on and spend some more hours in the sim. I just really got my unit right for this IndyCar IRacing Series. We are all trying to keep improving. Our whole team worked well together all week. I was pushing hard to get to Lando at the end,. but I couldn’t quite get to him.”
 
Simon Pagenaud, No. 22 Snap On Team Penske Chevrolet had scored back-to-back wins in round three and four. But today, on-track contact and time lost for repairs put the 2019 Indy 500 winner in the 14th finishing position.
 
Team Chevy drivers scored the three of the top-four finished with Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin finishing fourth and six of the top-10 with Will Power, Renius Veekay and Josef Newgarden finishing sixth, seventh and 10th respectively.
 
The sixth and final event of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES IRacing Challenge is set for next Saturday, May 2nd with live coverage on NBCSN.
 
Team Chevy PR