Jaden Munoz scores first career INDYCAR Thrustmaster iRacing Pro Series victory at Portland

It was a less ominous opening lap for the INDYCAR Thrustmaster iRacing Pro Series this week at Portland International Raceway. That didn’t mean that chaos was off the table, however, as many of the projected favorites wound up finding it. The resulting incidents allowed for Jaden Munoz, in his newly-painted WSR Esports Honda, to take control early and claim his first career victory in the series in his 12th career start.

“I don’t even know what to say,” Munoz said post-race. “I didn’t even expect to be in this position. I was praying for this series to come back, because I really love this car, and I really wanted to come back and do better than what I did in the previous year… I just knew I had to keep it clean, control my tires, control my pace… This is a good momentum boost, and a good confidence boost, for sure.”

On Thursday night, Munoz started in third, his best-career start, eclipsing a 12th place starting spot at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last season. Sporting a new livery showcasing his new outfit at WSR Esports, Munoz was already starting his new partnership off on a good foot. Ahead of him were Team Redline’s Luke McKeown, scoring another front row starting spot, and on the pole, a rookie to the series this season, Drago Racing’s Alx Spetz.

A full-field of 33 drivers entered the opening chicane and, for the most part, came away unscathed sans some stragglers at the back of the field who would continue in any case, a stark contrast to last week at Long Beach where most of the field didn’t get through the fountain unscathed. Nexxus eSports’ Quami Scott and Team Hype w/ Powerslide’s Jacob Oster made contact, both losing car pieces. Team Redline’s Cooper Webster and Powerslide’s Alexander van de Sandt were also forced to pit on the opening lap for damage repairs.

A split strategy on tires at the front set the tone for the opening laps. The majority of the field, including the pole sitter, opted for the Primary black-walled tires, which would last longer but would be slower than the peak laps of the red-walled Alternates. McKeown, however, had the red tires installed for the opening stint, and hoped to get ahead of the field as soon as possible, to repeat his performance at Long Beach last week.

McKeown kept right on the rear wing of Spetz through the opening lap-and-a-half, but down the backstretch on Lap 2, he made his move. The two ran side-by-side up until Turn 10, and neither budged as the corner began. Contact sent McKeown through the grass to the right, but he was able to recover and maintain the spot over Munoz. This kicked off an insane chain reaction of events that would ultimately shape the complexion of the event.

Just one lap later, the first big domino fell, and it was the defending series champion, Team Redline’s Diogo Pinto, sliding off in Turn 11 after contact with Coanda Esports’ Elliott Vayron, racing for the seventh position. As the field checked up for the incident, Team Hype w/ Powerslide’s Philip Kraus ran into the back of another car, losing his front wing, ending his night early. Pinto was able to continue, while Vayron retired a lap later.

Up front, McKeown was back on Spetz’s gearbox. Once again, out of the twists and turns, McKeown pulled alongside Spetz as they raced down the stretch. This time, the pair didn’t even make it to Turn 10.

Spetz caught some air, his day over due to the damage. McKeown was hurt, and needed to pit to fix it, but he would continue on, albeit out of contention for back-to-back wins. That handed the lead over to Munoz as McKeown came down pit road. Drago Racing’s Michael Romanidis took a look for the lead right after the chaos, but Munoz was able to hold serve for the time being.

The race continued on less chaotically. Pit stops were still on the table, and a strategy was still unfolding for Team Redline’s Florian Lebigre, who had used his Alternate tires on the opening stint to move from 15th to second place by Lap 11. It meant an earlier pit cycle for the No. 02, as he came down the lane on Lap 17, whereas the rest of the field would pit closer to 17 laps to go, around Lap 28. Sure enough, 17 to go was the exact lap that Munoz opted for service, leaving Romanidis out front for a few extra laps before the cycle completed.

Lebigre cycled out to fifth as a result, which was still a net gain of 10 spots from where he started. Munoz held on for the win over Romanidis by just over two seconds. Williams F1 Team Gaming’s Sota Muto picked up the final spot on the podium, barely defeating Drago Racing’s Peter Berryman for the spot.

RACE RESULTS FROM RACE NO. 2 | PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

DRIVERS STANDINGS AFTER RACE NO. 2 | PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

With McKeown recovering to finish in 16th, he maintains the points lead by just three points over Romanidis after two races, or a quarter of the season in the books. Munoz not only jumps into the top-10 in points for the first time in his career, but moves up to third with his win.

Defending series champion Diogo Pinto was able to finish after his Lap 3 incident, but it was still a 26th place finish, scoring the same amount of points as the driver that finished last—that driver, interestingly, being his rival from last season, Philip Kraus, who was the first to retire in the event. Pinto drops to seventh in the standings, while Kraus falls just outside the top-10, now in 11th.

NEXT RACE: BACK HOME AGAIN IN INDIANA (VIRTUALLY)

The third race of the 2026 season will take place on the oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday, January 22nd. The first oval race of the season flips the script and puts the advantage into the hands of our oval specialists on teams such as Team Hype and Powerslide Motorsports. Last year at the 2.5-mile rectangular oval in Speedway, Indiana, it was Team Hype’s Robert Maleczka III crossing the bricks in first.

All of the action starts at 8:00 p.m. ET, and will be live on INDYCAR’s YouTube channel, as well as across all of iRacing’s social media channels.

For more information on the INDYCAR Thrustmaster iRacing Pro Series, visit www.iracing.com/indycar-esports/.
For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

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