The three-race event at the virtual Indianapolis Motor Speedway GP Road Course consisted of a 10-minute sprint with a randomly drawn grid, followed by a reverse-grid ten-minute sprint. Points accumulated over the two races would determine the grid for the final 20-minute, winner-takes-all race – with the overall winner taking $10,000 (£7,400) for their nominated charity from a $25,500 (£19,000) prize fund
Although Castroneves got the luck of the draw to start on pole, alongside rookie Kyle Kirkwood, it was esports advocate Romain Grosjean who had the best start from row two to sweep into a lead through the first turn he’d not surrender. British rookie Callum Ilott also sneaked past the four-time Indy 500 champion to take second. While he wasn’t able to catch Grosjean at the front, Ilott was never threatened during the race either, dragging out a huge ten-second gap to the field behind him.
All the action came in the battle for third, with an entertaining four-car scrap between Jack Harvey, Devlin DeFrancesco, Christian Lundgaard, and Rinus VeeKay. DeFrancesco fell first, clashing with Harvey before spinning into the British driver, allowing Lundgaard and VeeKay past. However Lundgaard span at turn 12 on the penultimate lap, gifting VeeKay the podium.
The reversed grid put David Malukas on pole from Conor Daly, with Tatiana Calderon and Palou on the behind them, and again that second-row looked like the sweet spot as Palou took the lead in turn one. Lundgaard followed him through and overtook before the lap finished, and Sage Karam made it a fourth change for the lead in a lap and a half when Lundgaard wobbled through turn four. Further back, Calderon very firmly collected Grosjean, with both spinning into Castroneves and Ilott.