A switch to oval tracks didn’t stop Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin continuing to impress with his skill in the IndyCar virtual racing series.

Having won race two on debut last weekend, McLaughlin finished second behind Team Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud in race three at a virtual Michigan International Speedway.

Competing on his simulator from his home in Brisbane early on Sunday, McLaughlin edged out avid iRacer and new NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Dale Earnhardt Jr, who lobbied for an invite and finished third.

“I was trying at the end to hold off Dale Jr – I never thought I’d say that,” McLaughlin said.

Australia’s Will Power led late in the race but had to head to the pits for fuel.

With the coronavirus pandemic forcing a shutdown, McLaughlin has been forced to wait to make his promised Indycar debut but he’s making sure people in the industry know who he is through the iRacing series.

Michigan marked the first oval track on IndyCar’s virtual schedule. IndyCar has not actually raced at Michigan since 2007, and only five of the drivers in the virtual return had ever raced the track before.

“This is the most stressful I’ve ever felt in a race car,” Pagenaud said without a hint of sarcasm.

There was initial confusion as multiple cars crashed before even reaching the virtual start/finish line, with IndyCar scrambling for the reset button.

The virtual clean-up took time as drivers lobbied race control to delay the green so they could finish their tow and rejoin the field. An official finally told them to be quiet.

“The show is more important than where you guys finish in the race. I’m sorry, we will debrief after the race,” the drivers were told by an iRacing official, who added no more cautions would be called.

The field had a whopping 31 entrants, the most yet in this series, as Andretti Autosport got its full driver line-up into the race.

Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay made their IndyCar iRacing debuts, along with James Davison and Max Chilton, who stopped racing ovals in real life in the middle of last season.

Earnhardt saved fuel and used patience to score a podium finish.

“I had fun racing all those guys, a lot of them were pretty ticked off how the strategy worked out after that crash,” Earnhardt said.

“The fastest cars probably didn’t win today, and the best SIM racers probably didn’t win today.”