Homeland hero Edoardo Leo returns to INDYCAR Thrustmaster iRacing Pro Series victory lane at Mugello

A drive from Milan to Florence takes over three hours, but for Milan, Italy’s Edoardo Leo, Thursday night’s race at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello, located just north of Florence, Italy, was as close of a home victory as he could get in the INDYCAR Thrustmaster iRacing Pro Series’ first international adventure.

From the sixth spot on the grid, Leo and his Team Redline crew opted to go against the grain, starting the race on the red-walled, alternate compound tires. The majority of the field, including the Drago Racing contingent that locked out the top-three in qualifying, led by Michael Romanidis, opted to start the race on the primary virtual rubber. It was clear that Leo had pace, but it was unclear if his strategy would pay off.

Romanidis looked to have it in hand, with a lead of over two seconds with seven laps to go, but that’s when the strategy flipped in Leo’s favor, and the primaries were prime for passing on the worn-out alternates that most of the field chose to end the race with. Leo picked off Drago’s Alx Spetz, then the next lap, he was around Drago’s Nicolas Mateo. Romanidis couldn’t even put up a fight when Leo caught his wing. Leo went on to win over Romanidis by over four seconds. Team Redline’s Florian Lebigre, on Leo’s same strategy, rounded out the podium.

It’s a home win for Edoardo Leo at Mugello! Leo’s alternate tire strategy pays off as he goes from sixth to first for his third career IndyCar Thrustmaster iRacing Pro Series victory!!!@IndyCar | @TMThrustmaster pic.twitter.com/GrNV9xzDOr

— iRacing (@iRacing) January 30, 2026

“I’m over the moon,” Leo said post-race. “I’m so glad we took that risk, it really paid off. It didn’t have much sense to start on the same tire and sit behind them. Go for something that could put you in a great place. The start helped me a lot because I jumped a lot of people. I could push straight away and use the softs to the full extent. I didn’t know if I was going to actually catch him until very late. (Romanidis) was really looking quick at the start of his soft stint. It’s a very tough, very physical track, but I am really over the moon.”

Leo, one of four Italian racers in the field this season, has not had the same start to 2026 that he had two years ago in the inaugural campaign, where he came out of the gates swinging, landing in victory lane at Indianapolis on the road course. At Mid-Ohio, Leo scored his second career win, but still lost out on the title by season’s end to his Team Redline teammate Diogo Pinto.

Through the first three races in 2026, Leo failed to finish two of them. Portland was a top-10 result, and with this third career victory, he’s been propelled into a potential title run, just 36 points back with four races remaining. Leo’s teammate, Luke McKeown, winner at Long Beach to open the season, has led the standings the entire way, but now only holds a single point advantage over the consistent Romanidis at the halfway mark. All four of the winners this season sit within the top-10 and within striking distance of the points lead.

THE EVENT

For the second time in his INDYCAR Thrustmaster iRacing Pro Series career, Michael Romanidis brought the field to the green flag, this time for 30 laps of action around the 3.259-mile, 15-corner venue overseas in Italy. Romanidis led his Drago Racing teammates of Nicolas Mateo and Alx Spetz around early on, the group, as well as the majority of the field, opting for the primary black-walled tires for the start.

Edoardo Leo only managed to qualify in sixth, but from the jump, he was passing people left and right on his softer, red-walled, alternate compound tires. Team Redline was the only team to try the alternate strategy, placing Leo, Florian Lebigre, Cooper Webster, Josh Thompson, and Gustavo Ariel on the softer tires at the start. Their other three teammates, Luke McKeown, Sam Kuitert, and the defending champion, Diogo Pinto, were all on the strategy with the rest of the field, starting off with the primary tires.

On Lap 3, Leo made the lunge for the lead, bringing Lebigre with him a few corners later. It stayed a Team Redline 1-2 for 10 laps before their tires were cooked, and Romanidis was back on their wing with better pace. The contingent of alternate tires all pitted at the start of Lap 13, handing the lead back to Romanidis. The cold, harder tires made Leo and Lebigre lose a little more time to the Drago pack. When Romanidis opted to pit at the end of Lap 17, he cycled ahead of Leo with what looked to be a tire advantage, as his tires got back up to temp much sooner.

For the next six laps, Romanidis extended his lead, plus he had his teammates rounding out the podium at that point. Just when it looked like it was over for Team Redline’s backwards strategy, it came alive with six to go. Suddenly, Leo had life once again, as his primary tires were both up to temp and stabilized as the softs were slowing down. First, Leo picked off Spetz, then a lap later, he was around Mateo. Still up ahead, by over two seconds, was Romanidis.

The 53’s tires were shredded. Leo was pacing perfectly, and once the two were side-by-side, it was no contest. Leo pulled away, as Romanidis could only watch and hang on. Behind them, Lebigre had also managed to get through the Drago duo, setting his sights on a potential runner-up effort. Romanidis held on, but just barely, by two tenths. It was also evident that the Team Redline setup was better equipped to elongate the alternates, as McKeown, on the regular strategy, managed to claw up to finish fifth, keeping him at the top of the standings for another week.

Both Kuitert and Pinto did not have the same luck as McKeown on the same strategy. Pinto was dealt a speeding penalty, in fact, which placed him in a position for minimum points at Mugello. Last week’s winner, Michele Costantini, another of the four Italians in the field, rounded out the top-10. There were four drivers that failed to finish, including Alexander Russell and Adam Blocker, who both collided on Lap 5, as well as Sota Muto and Dan Amor, who were collected in a crash with five laps to go.

RACE RESULTS FROM RACE NO. 4 | MUGELLO CIRCUIT

DRIVERS STANDINGS AFTER RACE NO. 4 | MUGELLO CIRCUIT

NEXT RACE: OVAL RACING, BACK-TO-BACK, STARTING AT PHOENIX

Next up on the calendar is a double dose of oval racing, first up at Phoenix Raceway then at Nashville SuperSpeedway the week after. Philip Kraus sits sixth in the points so far, 33 points behind, and could use both events to close or even overcome that gap. He may have to watch out for the only driver to win on an oval so far this year, Team VRS’s Michele Costantini, who is third in the standings and has just as many wins on the ovals in this series in his career as Kraus.

The real question that lingers is if the road specialist teams such as Team Redline or Drago Racing can put together a run on these two ovals to prevent a huge points loss like history has previously portrayed. Pinto’s championship was secured at Nashville SuperSpeedway with an 11th place effort. In that same race, the two points leaders currently, McKeown and Romanidis, finished fifth and ninth, respectively. With less ovals this season, one might think that the road-focused teams have the advantage, but if the first half of the season proved anything, it is that anything can happen on any given Thursday night… or Friday morning, in some of these driver’s cases/

All of the action from Phoenix 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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