Luke McKeown crowned 2026 INDYCAR Thrustmaster iRacing Pro Series champion

February 27th, 2026 by

Alessandro Bico picks up first-career victory at Laguna Seca to cap off rookie season

Following the eighth and final race of the 2026 INDYCAR Thrustmaster iRacing Pro Series season, a new champion emerged alongside a new race winner on Tuesday night.

As a rookie to this series, but veteran to the iRacing eSports ecosystem, Williams F1 Team Gaming’s Alessandro Bico picked up his first-career victory, winning by nearly 10 seconds at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. However, by finishing in fifth in the same race, Team Redline’s Luke McKeown scored enough points to claim the 2026 Championship by 15 points.

McKeown entered the race 10 points behind Team VRS competitor Michele Costantini. Entering the night, both drivers had full control of their own destinies, with whoever winning the race with enough bonus points over the other set to take the title. Sadly for Costantini, he never got a shot to try, albeit from the 20th starting spot, 18 places behind McKeown from the jump. Costantini was fed a meatball flag on the opening lap, all but ensuring a title for McKeown should he bring it home.

McKeown did just that, giving way to his teammates Edoardo Leo and Florian Lebigre early in the going, leaving space to the racing ahead, losing two more spots to both WSR Esports’ Jaden Munoz and the eventual winner, Bico, and safely bringing it home in fifth, more than enough to celebrate his first title in the series, adding another official iRacing eSports title to sit alongside his FIA F4 Esports Global Championship title won back in 2024.

THE OVERCUT PREVAILS… WITH SOME HELP

The 40-lap feature race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca was fascinating, showcasing an overcut Alternate tire strategy prevailing by the end. The top-four starters in the field—Edoardo Leo, Luke McKeown, Florian Lebigre, and Drago Racing’s Alx Spetz—all opted to start on the red-walled, Alternate compound, softer tires. Alessandro Bico, starting in fifth, opted for the black-walled, Primary compound, hard tires. The field was more split on this decision than usual, and we’ve seen it play out differently in both directions at different tracks.

Leo, Lebigre, McKeown, and Spetz maintained the top-four early on, but ran the Alternate tires ragged, down to the virtual cords. On Lap 17, Spetz was the first to pit, already three seconds back of McKeown for third. Leo bit next, on Lap 19, and finally on the leading Alternate start strategy, Lebigre and McKeown came down pit road on Lap 20.

The drivers on the Primary compound tires stayed on the circuit, which handed the lead over to Bico at halfway. With the clean track ahead, and with pace still in his tires, Bico began to extend his lead as the pitted leaders, now led by Lebigre, caught the back of the pack of cars that had not yet come in.

10th place belonged to Coanda Esports’ Elliott Vayron, but just because he still had to pit, didn’t mean he would give up the positions willingly to the Team Redline trio breathing down his neck. For about two laps, as more cars ahead of them peeled off to pit, Vayron played a spoiler role, eventually letting both Lebigre and Leo by, but he continued to fight with the Team Redline drivers for position before finally pitting on Lap 25.

Also pitting on Lap 25, about 25 seconds ahead, was Bico. Bico’s stint on pit road managed to get him out just ahead of Lebigre. For the next lap, Lebigre stalked Bico, with warmer tires, looking to make the move before his tires came up to temperature. It only took a lap, but Bico maintained control and began to pull away.

Michele Costantini, who had been given a mechanical black flag on the opening lap, returned to the track multiple laps down. It’s unclear if Lebigre could have saved his tires and caught back up to Bico for the win, but Costantini ensured it by racing with the driver in second place, cementing at least a second place points position over Lebigre, who would have taken second with a win in the current situation. Up front, the cards all fell perfectly for one Italian, at least, as Bico cruised on to win.

TITLE ULTIMATELY DECIDED ON LAP 1

The moment it began to unravel for Michele Costantini was in final practice, when it became clear that his pace was not on par with the Team Redline crew. Pushing as hard as possible without invalidating his lap, Costantini could only manage a 20th place result, miring the championship leader in the middle of the hornet’s nest to start the day.

His rival, Luke McKeown, was safely tucked in-between teammates in the second starting spot, so Costantini would need perfection all day to even have a chance.

That notion died in the middle of the opening lap.

One of the SZESE E-Sport machines ahead of Costantini checked up out of Turn 4, and just about under the bridge, the car behind Costantini, Team Redline’s Josh Thompson, couldn’t quite check up in time. The contact was so slight, but it completely killed Costantini’s chassis, as the Italian struggled to maintain a straight line for the rest of the lap, going off at times, including a scary moment in The Corkscrew.

Costantini was able to wheel it back to the pits, but unless something happened to Luke McKeown, his chances at a title were gone in an instant.

A ROLLERCOASTER OF A TITLE RUN FOR MCKEOWN

For Luke McKeown, his championship season is one of grit, determination, and never giving up, even when the cards become stacked against. McKeown started the year by putting the field on notice, winning handedly on the Streets of Long Beach. That perfect day led into another great opportunity in the Portland International Raceway debut the following week, where McKeown managed to qualify in second, hoping to do more of the same.

Like a roller coaster, this is where his season took its first dip downhill, as while racing for the lead with Alx Spetz, the two collided multiple times, the last one resulting in damage to both cars, forcing McKeown down pit road too early, forcing a 16th place finish at the end of the day, with Jaden Munoz claiming the victory. It wasn’t the end of the world, however, as he maintained the points lead, thanks in part due to the volatile nature of the first two races that caused many hopefuls to finish lower than expected due to the chaos.

The ovals were expected to be rough for McKeown and the entire Team Redline crew, but a ninth place run for McKeown at Indianapolis Motor Speedway kept him both confident and in the points lead for another week as the series returned to the road in the fourth race of the season, the international trip to Italy for some racing at Mugello Circuit. A fifth place once again meant that McKeown stayed on top, but a couple of players were making their case for the points lead, including Michael Romanidis, who finished second to Edoardo Leo, and was only a point behind McKeown leaving as a result.

It wasn’t until the fifth race of the season, the Phoenix Raceway debut, that McKeown finally relinquished the lead of the championship for the first time. With only three ovals on the schedule, it would be tougher than the inaugural season for any oval specialists to succeed, but Costantini had both skill sets in his pocket, and with a second place finish to Team Hype w/ Powerslide’s Philip Kraus to back up his own win at Indy, that meant that he would become the new points leader as the series took on its final oval of the year at Nashville Superspeedway a week later.

Team Redline had never won a race on the oval in this series, but with decent starting spots and a number of them nose-to-tail for the start, the Red Bull-powered crew marched to the front and stayed there on a track that was expected to go in the favor of the Team Hype competitors, that particular team locking out the top-four to close out the 2024 season. This time, however, Diogo Pinto claimed the win. McKeown was up there too, but once again, after nearly making it to the top of the tracks, this rollercoaster took a huge dive as McKeown crashed hard, resulting in a 20th place finish instead.

Now, McKeown had a 37-point deficit to overcome in the final two races. Clearly, not impossible, but a lot would need to go right in order to make that happen. That’s when his rollercoaster hit new heights, with a second win on the season at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. McKeown started in second, passed his teammate Gustavo Ariel near the end of the first run, and never looked back. To make things sweeter, Team Redline locked out the top-five finishing positions, which ultimately forced Costantini to finish in seventh.

Costantini was still in charge. His 1.67 average finish on the three ovals, plus his solid outings at Long Beach, Mugello, and Mid-Ohio meant that he held control of the championship still by 10 points entering the night. In the 2024 season, Costantini finished ahead of McKeown at Laguna Seca. Granted, the two were on different teams back then, but it was evident that there could be a fight at the end of the day.

However, only one driver this season won multiple races. One driver was a clear-cut favorite to win on the majority of the road and street courses. That driver’s team managed to bridge the hole that prevented them from succeeding at ovals, despite this driver’s poor luck in that race.

That driver is Brighton, England’s Luke McKeown, and despite all of the ups and downs of the 2026 INDYCAR Thrustmaster iRacing Pro Series season, at the end of the day, he’s now $20,000 richer, and has another championship title to add to his already extensive sim racing résumé.

RACE RESULTS FROM RACE NO. 8 | WEATHERTECH RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA

Fin.

St.

No.

Driver

Team

Manu.

Laps

Interval

Led

Pts.
1 5 77 Alessandro Bico [R] Williams F1 Team Gaming Honda 40 0.000 22 53
2 1 23 Edoardo Leo Team Redline Honda 40 -9.714 17 42
3 3 02 Florian Lebigre Team Redline Honda 40 -10.528 1 36
4 9 24 Jaden Munoz WSR Esports Honda 40 -11.236 0 32
5 2 96 Luke McKeown Team Redline Honda 40 -12.786 0 30
6 4 2 Alx Spetz [R] Drago Racing Chevy 40 -13.279 0 28
7 10 1 Diogo Pinto Team Redline Honda 40 -15.839 0 26
8 6 12 Gustavo Ariel Team Redline Honda 40 -17.190 0 24
9 17 49 Dan Amor Coanda Esports Honda 40 -18.477 0 22
10 7 50 Peter Berryman Drago Racing Chevy 40 -18.839 0 20
11 13 5 Nicolas Mateo [R] Drago Racing Chevy 40 -22.036 0 19
12 21 19 Philip Kraus Team Hype w/ PS Chevy 40 -23.252 0 18
13 8 51 Ricardo Rico Drago Racing Chevy 40 -28.031 0 17
14 29 25 Matteo Kuenzer [R] Williams F1 Team Gaming Honda 40 -28.796 0 16
15 16 28 Sam Kuitert Team Redline Honda 40 -29.249 0 15
16 23 43 Josh Thompson [R] Team Redline Honda 40 -36.194 0 14
17 22 9 Elliott Vayron Coanda Esports Honda 40 -37.220 0 13
18 24 15 Bálint Pálla [R] SZESE E-Sport Chevy 40 -45.079 0 12
19 11 37 Cooper Webster Team Redline Honda 40 -47.576 0 11
20 28 68 Sota Muto Williams F1 Team Gaming Honda 40 -49.108 0 10
21 26 16 Jacob Oster Team Hype w/ PS Chevy 40 -57.499 0 9
22 27 97 Alexander van de Sandt [R] Powerslide Motorsports Chevy 40 -1:00.923 0 8
23 30 60 Esteban Rodriguez [R] Nexxus eSports Chevy 39 -1L 0 7
24 31 91 Robert Maleczka III Team Hype w/ PS Chevy 39 -1L 0 6
25 32 27 Alexander Russell [R] Powerslide Motorsports Chevy 39 -1L 0 5
26 18 11 Pablo Espes [R] Williams F1 Team G.A. Honda 38 -2L 0 5
27 14 53 Michael Romanidis Drago Racing Chevy 28 -12L 0 5
28 25 99 Quami Scott [R] Nexxus eSports Chevy 24 -16L 0 5
29 20 66 Michele Costantini Team VRS Chevy 12 -28L 0 5
30 12 41 David Toth SZESE E-Sport Chevy 10 DNF 0 5
31 15 7 Vasilios Beletsiotis [R] Bleu Mercure Esport Honda 1 DNF 0 5
32 19 57 Tamas Simon SZESE E-Sport Chevy 0 DNF 0 5
DNS DNQ 74 Adam Blocker [R] Team Hype w/ PS Chevy — ——— — —

DRIVERS STANDINGS AFTER RACE NO. 8 | WEATHERTECH RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA

Pos.

No.

Driver

Team

Manu.

Pts.

Wins

T5’s

T10’s
1 96 Luke McKeown Team Redline Honda 228 2 4 5
2 66 Michele Costantini Team VRS Chevy -15 1 3 5
3 02 Florian Lebigre Team Redline Honda -28 0 4 5
4 1 Diogo Pinto Team Redline Honda -31 1 3 4
5 23 Edoardo Leo Team Redline Honda -37 1 3 4
6 19 Philip Kraus Team Hype w/ PS Chevy -38 1 3 4
7 53 Michael Romanidis Drago Racing Chevy -48 0 2 3
8 77 Alessandro Bico [R] Williams F1 Team Gaming Honda -54 1 2 3
9 12 Gustavo Ariel Team Redline Honda -60 0 1 4
10 27 Alexander Russell [R] Powerslide Motorsports Chevy -75 0 2 3
11 2 Alx Spetz [R] Drago Racing Chevy -81 0 0 4
12 24 Jaden Munoz WSR Esports Honda -83 1 2 3

*Per the rules, the top-12 drivers in the final standings retain their license for the next season of this particular championship.

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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