The weeks are ticking by and during the 7th week our drivers were busy with the Daytona 2.4 and iGPS. Below are the race reports.
Daytona 2.4
The annual Daytona 2.4 hours is a very special event as it's only seen once a year in the iRacing World Tour calendar and is a very tough challenge for any driver entering it. As the title states, the race is 2.4 hours long without any driver changes. To make it even tougher on the drivers, the racing is also multiclass - featuring the much lighter, faster Riley Daytona Prototype against the heavier, slower Mustang FR500. Hence the challenge for the win is not only down to who has the quicker pace, but also tests the drivers ability to manage traffic.
Qualifying proved to be a busy one as a whopping 753 drivers set a qualifying time with the Riley DP. Two Western Wolves drivers would enter the qualifying and race in this same car. Dutchman Dave Gelink put himself in 11th on the timesheet followed by Finn Teemu Iivonen in 15th as both of the drivers would end up driving in the highest split for the race. The race had a magnificent participation number, as 1081 drivers signed up for the race in both classes!
Gelink did not waste any time at the start of the race as he started making up positions on his rivals on track, and with some smart driving in traffic and a great pace, Dave managed to climb all the way up to 3rd, before closing up to friend and on-track rival Evan Maillard.
In the closing stages of the race, Dave made his move and successfully passed for 2nd place with just 3 laps to go, finishing only 3 seconds behind eventual winner - András Király - after an intense 2.4 hours of multiclass racing. Teemu Iivonen was struck by bad luck this evening as a quick offroad visit on the grass damaged his steering 40 minutes into the race. He was not able to fix his damaged car in his pitstop which saw him having to tip-toe his way around the track for the remaining two hours of the race with crooked steering. Undeterred by this, Teemu continued on driving, slowly picking off places as the endurance race took its toll on the field, before advancing to 8th position by the end of the race to offer some consolation for the Finn, despite losing a lot of pace from his damage.
The next notable World Tour event takes place in one months time, as the 120 Minutes of Sebring will take place on Sunday 18th March, featuring the popular Prototype & GT cars.
iRacing.com Grand Prix Series
Written by Simon Cattell Despite not achieving pole position, Jake's stunning 2012 campaign continued with victory in two of the three SoF races, extending his championship lead and maintaining his 100% win record as he continues to emerge as a strong threat for the Drivers World Championship (DWC) in March. Joining him in the American Friday night SoF races, Phillip Diaz was less fortunate as a Lap 8 pile-up involving himself, Andrew Slocombe and Bryan Heitkotter forced the Floridian to make an unscheduled pit stop for a new front wing, followed by a spirited comeback seeing him take 7th place. Our Europeans took the track for the Sunday evening SoF races expanding the WW colours across the grid. Teemu Iivonen continued his strong performances in the Williams FW31 with a fast qualifying time followed by an excellent 3rd place in the first SoF race, until a start accident in the second race eliminated his chances of replicating a similar or better result. Meanwhile Simon Cattell did the opposite - as a lap 1 crash damaged his rear wing severely in the first race, until a strong 5th place in Race 2 enabled him to succeed a consistent points run in the standings despite a poor qualifying time. DWC driver Jason Lovett followed Teemu with a competitive first race seeing him take 187 points to Teemu's 222. However, he followed his Finnish team-mate again in the second race by getting involved in the same start accident, colliding with Ryan Terpstra and ruining his race. Robin Friskopps' début got off to the worst start as the inexperienced Swede spun at the start of his lower split race, having not prepared a race launch to his dismay. However, not to learn from his previous mistake and with more testing in the bag, Robin drove a great race in the final race of the day taking a well-deserved 6th place after a string of fast and consistent lap times. In the standings, Jake's gap to his rivals extended to triple figures with a 100 point gap over second placed Riku Alatalo. Simon Cattell advanced to 5th with team-mate Teemu Iivonen in close company, slotting in 7th position. Phillip Diaz occupies 18th position with this almost certainly being a drop week for him after his collision. Jason sits 38th after missing Mid-Ohio and Robin débuting here puts him in 106th place, showing he has a lot of ground to make up, but the 4 drop weeks offer him hope. Next week, the iGPS scene arrives at the highly anticipated 7km Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, as this widely acclaimed one of the best circuits in the world promises to bring a competitive field with it. |
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3 Comments
cHoObiE3
For all the noobs out there that aren't quite familiar with iRacing, is there any way we can spectate?
dabba
Teemu Iivonen
