Scott McLaughlin has continued to push his case for a switch to IndyCar after winning a virtual open-wheel race against other professional drivers this morning.
McLaughlin got up at 4am local time to take part in the Grand Prix of Alabama against IndyCar drivers and other guest drivers invited from all around the world.
The Kiwi driver started the race in eighth but managed to claim the lead with four laps to go after opting for a different race strategy from all the other competitors.
Although McLaughlin conceded after the race he did have some help.
"I brought in my IndyCar engineer, Jonathan Diuguid, I’ve been working with in the States, so I give him credit," McLaughlin said.
"He put me on an awesome strategy. It was a bit easier [to calculate fuel] this week."
Despite being virtual, the race featured real-life physics and experiences such as engine temperature and yellow flags - both of which played a role in McLaughlin's win.
"It was crazy," McLaughlin said.
"I was particularly nervous on [the Lap 15] restart [from a competition caution]. The biggest thing was lapped traffic. Getting blocked. That enabled us to get that jump in the pits because I was in clear air a long time where others weren’t. So credit to Jonathan and his strategy. He put me out front, and I was able to just bang lap times out, which was awesome."
This morning's race was McLaughlin's second behind the virtual whee,l with the Kiwi finishing fourth in his first ever e-race last week.
McLaughlin has been raising his profile in the US this year, with the back-to-back Supercars champion participating in the IndyCar rookie evaluation testing in January.
He then returned to Australia to defend his title before the coronavirus pandemic affected the Supercars season.
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