Luke McKeown claims second 2026 INDYCAR Thrustmaster iRacing Pro Series season win at Mid-Ohio

February 20th, 2026 by

Costantini maintains 10-point lead; Title to be decided at Laguna Seca

For the first time in the 2026 INDYCAR Thrustmaster iRacing Pro Series season, we have a multi-time winner. Team Redline’s Luke McKeown started off the season in full control after winning at Long Beach, and now takes back part control after taking the checkers for the second time on the year at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Thursday night.

From the second starting spot, McKeown was in a safety net of Team Redline machines, with Gustavo Ariel on the pole, and the next five spots behind them taken by Team Redline drivers, including defending series champion Diogo Pinto, Florian Lebigre, Cooper Webster, Josh Thompson, and Sam Kuitert. The only one of the contingent not up front was the defending winner of the event, Edoardo Leo, who was down in 20th. There were some that didn’t make it to the end, but at the checkers, it was a 1-2-3-4-5 finish for the Red Bull Verstappen.com-sponsored Hondas in the field.

“I think it was kind of a must-win race for me to get back into the championship,” McKeown said post-race. “I had an unfortunate crash in the last race, which put me quite far behind. I think it was a must-win, and what a great job the team did, honestly, it was unbelievable, after qualifying, we locked out the top-seven places. Amazing feeling, amazing job from everyone.”

The points leader entering, Team VRS’s Michele Costantini, was mired down in 10th after qualifying. By the end of the night, McKeown stood tall as the winner as Costantini clawed back for a seventh place finish. The result means that the championship will come down to the final race of the season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca next week. Costantini leads by 10 over McKeown, but a total of six drivers have a mathematical shot, including Drago Racing’s Michael Romanidis (33 points back), Team Hype with Powerslide’s Philip Kraus (36 points back), Pinto (37 points back), and Lebigre (44 points back).

THE EVENT

Team Redline overcame their Oval track deficits last week by winning with Diogo Pinto at Nashville Superspeedway. This week was even more impressive, as the crew claimed the top-seven starting spots for the penultimate battle of the championship. Gustavo Ariel led the charge to the green, with McKeown in tow. By the end of Lap 1, only six of the seven remained. Entering China Beach for the first time, Sam Kuitert collided with Bleu Mercure Esport’s Vasilios Beletsiotis while racing for seventh, ending both of their days early.

The chaos continued behind, as a number of drivers in the middle of the pack opted to take Alternate red-walled tires to start the event. The Team Redline drivers and Michele Costantini were not one of them, but nearly everyone around Costantini was, including Beletsiotis, the Drago Racing teammates of Peter Berryman and Michael Romanidis, WSR Esports’ Jaden Munoz, Coanda Esports’ Dan Amor, and Williams F1 Team Gaming’s Alessandro Bico.

As the red-walled tires fought for track position early, Costantini was making sure to keep his car as clean as possible. Unfortunately for the cars behind them, there was a massive checkup in the Esses, and the resulting contact would result in a number of early retirements and mechanical black flags.

Second place in the standings entering, Philip Kraus just needed to keep it close to Costantini to keep his title chances more alive entering the finale next week. That plan went up in smoke as he was collected in the fracas, his teammate Adam Blocker vaulting over him as the checkup tore off his rear wing. It took five laps to complete the repairs, but ultimately, he finished 25th, which was still the minimum points for the day. Kraus will still have a shot next week, but he will need a lot to happen and at least a second place finish with some bonus points to pull it off.

Costantini managed to escape the chaos unscathed, but now mired back in 13th. McKeown was in second, and the points at the time had Costantini with a 14-point advantage still on Lap 6. Being on the Primary black-walled tires, Costantini could go longer over the first stint, but still had to worry about getting back by the drivers that all passed him in the opening stages in a clean fashion.

Once the dust and debris settled, the field was back in a single-file line around the 2.258-mile course. After most of the first run was in the bag, McKeown made it clear that he had better long run pace than his teammate and made the move for the lead at Lap 14 to take the lead and control of the race. Ariel continued to fall as the race went on, losing spots to both Pinto and Lebigre before the end of it.

The Alternate tires all made their decision to pit before halfway, while the Primary tires all waited until after. Watching the lap times, it seemed as though the worn Primary tires were still on pace with the new Primary tires, which allowed for Costantini to jump a few of the drivers that had passed him during the cycle, as their cold Primary tires cost them a few seconds on their outlaps. The cold Alternates were able to get up to pace almost immediately, which allowed Costantini to keep marching forward, getting up to ninth before more drama appeared just ahead.

In the battle for seventh, Thompson and Amor went at it. Thompson, also now on the Alternate red-walled tires, was faster than Amor, but Amor didn’t budge. Once again entering China Beach, a Team Redline machine wound up on the wrecker, as Thompson was crashed out after contact with Amor. This gave another spot to Costantini, who also managed to get by Amor by the end of the race to ultimately finish seventh. The only non-Team Redline machine that Costantini couldn’t pass was Bico, who picked up a sixth place result.

Up front, it was all Team Redline, as they took first through fifth, with McKeown as the victor. The teammates found each other after the race and celebrated their successes as now three of them have a chance at a title next week. McKeown, however, has the best chance of them all after claiming his second win of the season, and third of his career.

RACE RESULTS FROM RACE NO. 7 | MID-OHIO SPORTS CAR COURSE

Fin.

St.

No.

Driver

Team

Manu.

Laps

Interval

Led

Pts.
1 2 96 Luke McKeown Team Redline Honda 40 0.000 27 53
2 3 1 Diogo Pinto Team Redline Honda 40 -2.719 0 40
3 4 02 Florian Lebigre Team Redline Honda 40 -3.182 0 35
4 1 12 Gustavo Ariel Team Redline Honda 40 -4.931 13 34
5 6 37 Cooper Webster Team Redline Honda 40 -7.806 0 30
6 8 77 Alessandro Bico [R] Williams F1 Team Gaming Honda 40 -12.291 0 28
7 10 66 Michele Costantini Team VRS Chevy 40 -14.114 0 26
8 11 49 Dan Amor Coanda Esports Honda 40 -16.09 0 24
9 14 50 Peter Berryman Drago Racing Chevy 40 -17.748 0 22
10 13 24 Jaden Munoz WSR Esports Honda 40 -18.565 0 20
11 12 53 Michael Romanidis Drago Racing Chevy 40 -20.374 0 19
12 21 60 Esteban Rodriguez [R] Nexxus eSports Chevy 40 -23.526 0 18
13 22 57 Tamas Simon SZESE E-Sport Chevy 40 -23.854 0 17
14 17 68 Sota Muto Williams F1 Team Gaming Honda 40 -27.336 0 16
15 20 23 Edoardo Leo Team Redline Honda 40 -29.477 0 15
16 32 25 Matteo Kuenzer [R] Williams F1 Team Gaming Honda 40 -35.571 0 14
17 24 16 Jacob Oster Team Hype w/ PS Chevy 40 -41.825 0 13
18 27 99 Quami Scott [R] Nexxus eSports Chevy 40 -42.108 0 12
19 16 5 Nicolas Mateo [R] Drago Racing Chevy 40 -49.152 0 11
20 30 97 Alexander van de Sandt [R] Powerslide Motorsports Chevy 40 -51.557 0 10
21 33 27 Alexander Russell [R] Powerslide Motorsports Chevy 40 -54.362 0 9
22 29 15 Bálint Pálla [R] SZESE E-Sport Chevy 40 -1:03.268 0 8
23 18 41 David Toth SZESE E-Sport Chevy 39 -1L 0 7
24 25 91 Robert Maleczka III Team Hype w/ PS Chevy 39 -1L 0 6
25 15 19 Philip Kraus Team Hype w/ PS Chevy 28 DNF 0 5
26 7 43 Josh Thompson [R] Team Redline Honda 27 DNF 0 5
27 19 51 Ricardo Rico Drago Racing Chevy 8 DNF 0 5
28 23 2 Alx Spetz [R] Drago Racing Chevy 6 DNF 0 5
29 28 74 Adam Blocker [R] Team Hype w/ PS Chevy 3 DNF 0 5
30 9 7 Vasilios Beletsiotis [R] Bleu Mercure Esport Honda 1 DNF 0 5
31 5 28 Sam Kuitert Team Redline Honda 1 DNF 0 5
32 26 11 Pablo Espes [R] Williams F1 Team G.A. Honda 0 DNF 0 5
33 31 9 Elliott Vayron Coanda Esports Honda 0 DNF 0 5

DRIVERS STANDINGS AFTER RACE NO. 7 | MID-OHIO SPORTS CAR COURSE

Pos.

No.

Driver

Team

Manu.

Pts.

Wins

T5’s

T10’s
1 66 Michele Costantini Team VRS Chevy 208 1 3 5
2 96 Luke McKeown Team Redline Honda -10 2 3 4
3 53 Michael Romanidis Drago Racing Chevy -33 0 2 3
4 19 Philip Kraus Team Hype w/ PS Chevy -36 1 3 4
5 1 Diogo Pinto Team Redline Honda -37 1 3 3
6 02 Florian Lebigre Team Redline Honda -44 0 3 4
7 23 Edoardo Leo Team Redline Honda -59 1 2 3
8 27 Alexander Russell [R] Powerslide Motorsports Chevy -60 0 2 3
9 12 Gustavo Ariel Team Redline Honda -64 0 1 3
10 16 Jacob Oster Team Hype w/ PS Chevy -81 0 1 3

Ten points is the gap between first and second in the standings, as well as first and second in any race not including bonus points. If McKeown wins over Costantini in second, the bonus points will decide the champion. If they tie on bonus points, then the tie-breaker would go to the driver with more wins on the season, that being McKeown. Even if the title comes down to positions not first or second, the tie-breaker remains the same. Costantini’s only sure bet is to win it all at Laguna Seca. The other drivers in contention all need to finish first or second, in Romanidis’s case, he could also win with a third, but will need the top-two to score minimum points.

NEXT RACE: A LAGUNA SECA SHOWDOWN FOR ALL THE MARBLES (AND A TITLE)

It all comes down to the final 40 laps of the season scheduled at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Last season, Diogo Pinto was victorious, taking his only win of the season before claiming the title at the end of the year. They were both racing for different teams in 2024, but Costantini claimed a fifth in this same race while McKeown managed to finish seventh. Does that history mean anything? We’ll have to wait until next week to find out!

All of the action from Laguna Seca 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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