Michele Costantini scores three-wide, photo finish victory in INDYCAR Thrustmaster iRacing Pro Series return to Indianapolis

The first oval experience in the 2026 INDYCAR Thrustmaster iRacing Pro Series season turned out to be an instant classic on Thursday night. Taking on the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 33 of the best virtual IndyCar competitors lined up for 66 laps around the 2.5-mile venue.

Michele Costantini, the only driver representing Team VRS this season, scored the pole position and stayed in the conversation the entire way. In the final six laps, the lead changed hands multiple times. Across the yard of bricks the final time, it was Costantini in front, by just 0.019 seconds over Powerslide’s Alexander Russell and 0.027 seconds over the inaugural race victor, Team Hype’s Robert Maleczka III.

No words. Just watch this Indianapolis magic.

Michele Costantini WINS at Indy!!!@IndyCar | @TMThrustmaster pic.twitter.com/XPGcbRxU8C

— iRacing (@iRacing) January 23, 2026

“I knew I didn’t have to be in the first two or three spots,” Costantini said about his run to the checkers post-race. “I just had the perfect run out of (Turn) 3. The race up ahead was great. I trust each and every single one of those guys that I was racing there on the last lap, to put on a great show, and we did, we did so cleanly as well. I’m super, super happy about this race.”

While many of Costantini’s successes in his iRacing career have been on the road side, those of which include multiple official iRacing World Championship Series wins on the road (in the Dallara Grand Prix Series), as well as having over a 9,000 iRating in both Formula racing and Sports Car racing licenses, his IndyCar Pro Series career now has a second oval win added to his résumé, this Indianapolis win now joining his maiden win back in the inaugural season at The Milwaukee Mile.

The victory boosts Costantini up to second in the standings after three weeks, the story of the season being a tumultuous one across the field with no driver yet to step up to take control of the championship. The opening round race winner, Team Redline’s Luke McKeown, maintains the points lead with his second top-10 finish of the season, but he could have been well out in front if not for an incident with Drago Racing’s Alx Spetz last week at Portland. With five races to go, the title is still wide open.

THE EVENT

Starting up front was important for most of the key players on Thursday night. The top-five qualifiers—Costantini, three of the Team Hype w/ Powerslide drivers, and Team Redline’s Cooper Webster—all finished inside the top-seven by race’s end. Eight of the top-10 starters also finished in the same area. As most of these Indianapolis races began, the field of 33 all spread out, single-file, saving fuel, except for the top-two of Costantini and Maleczka III, who kept the field at bay by performing the swap for the lead for the opening 17 laps.

The strategy shifted about halfway through the opening stint, when it was the two other Team Hype drivers in contention—Philip Kraus and Jacob Oster—both passing Costantini and Maleczka III to move into the top-two spots and do their own swaps for the second half of the run. This led to the lead quartet all pitting at the end of Lap 33, the exact halfway point of the race. After flawless execution, the four were back up in front, but they had a bit more company in the party for the second half to contend with.

The Powerslide Motorsports to the Team Hype w/Powerslide alliance made their presence felt in Act Two. Two drivers named Alexander—Russell and van de Sandt—were now in the mix, as well as Coanda Esports’ Elliott Vayron, one of the biggest movers of the race, up from the 15th starting spot. With about 25 laps to go, the field finally got tired of waiting and began to all condense, and that’s when the first caution of the race, and first caution of the season, flew for an incident around the mid-pack.

Over the next couple of green flag laps, the caution would once again fly, a total of three times all together, for incidents behind the top-eight. The second wreck of the night unfortunately involved last week’s winner, WSR Esports’ Jaden Munoz, who wound up on his roof after contact with both the wall and Team Redline’s Edoardo Leo.

A third caution involving a few more Team Redline machines and Bleu Mercure Esport’s Vasilios Beletsiotis set up for a final six lap dash to the finish, and all the remaining contenders still had plenty of tire left to dance.

Perhaps one of the most wild sequences in series history unfolded in the final six laps. Russell and van de Sandt led the charge, but soon Vayron was challenging for the top spot. Maleczka III woke up and chose to move to the lead, but so did Kraus. Costantini watched for a few laps before getting himself involved. Oster was trapped, and just couldn’t make a claim to put his car out front in the final laps.

It was choreography at its finest, with all drivers making aggressive moves, sometimes four-wide, all managing to stay off of one another, giving each other plenty of room to work with. Eventually, Vayron, Oster, and van de Sandt all fell just a little too far back. Webster managed to pick his way around all three of them, but it was too late for him as well. It would come down to the top-four, and it was Russell out front on the white flag lap.

Maleczka III ran second, Costantini was third. Kraus tried to find a hole to make it four-wide once again, but backed out and instead took third away from Costantini momentarily. Costantini fought back and moved back into third. Down the backstretch, Russell weaved ahead of Maleczka III. Costantini stayed back, building the run in third, and the field hit Turn 3. Through the corner, Maleczka III also got a run, and out of Turn 4, made the move high. Costantini was there with a head of steam and went low. At the line, Costantini had it.

RACE RESULTS FROM RACE NO. 3 | INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

DRIVERS STANDINGS AFTER RACE NO. 3 | INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

With five races to go, Team Redline’s Luke McKeown still sits at the top following a ninth place effort at Indianapolis. Costantini jumps from outside the top-10 to second, just 10 points back as the series heads to Mugello in a week’s time.

Kraus, who wound up finishing in fourth, flirted with taking over the points lead should he have won it, but now sits in fourth in the points, 19 points back, with only two more oval races to shine on for the remainder of the season. He’s tied with an alliance member in Alexander Russell, now the highest placed rookie in the standings after three weeks. Jaden Munoz drops to eighth, just a point behind the defending series champion, Team Redline’s Diogo Pinto, who placed in 11th at Indy.

NEXT RACE: FIRST TIME ABROAD TO TAKE ON MUGELLO CIRCUIT

It’s another road course race trip for the fourth race of the 2026 INDYCAR Thrustmaster iRacing Pro Series season. This one not only takes the 33-best virtual IndyCar competitors to a new venue, but also to the first racetrack outside the United States in this series’ history. Four drivers in the field—Alessandro Bico (Williams F1 Team Gaming), Matteo Kuenzer (Williams F1 Team Gaming), Edoardo Leo (Team Redline), and the most-recent race winner, Michele Costantini (Team VRS) will all have claim to this being a home race for them.

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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