With just 3 rounds remaining, the final triple crown event is upon us, in what could be a defining race of the 2023 season. Of the championship challengers, only Jules Barclay was able to claim any bonus points by qualifying in 4th. Thunström and Zozulya start further back in 7th and 9th respectively. Although the Medium tyre is the preferred strategy for the majority of the field, there is still a strong Soft contingent led by polesitter Aron Einarsson. Additionally, both GP1’s, Thunström, Zozulya, Hudson, Hölzberg, Roberts, Inman and Christodoulou will be starting on the fastest single lap tyres. Gianluca di Stefano, in his 5th start of the season, is the sole entrant on Hard tyres. Part 1After a partially wet qualifying the race would also begin with rain falling on the circuit. Away from the line it was a lightning start from the second row of the grid for Porsche’s Jules Barclay. The Canadian rocketed into the lead on the downhill run to Turn 1 and he did not look back. Mastering the conditions, Barclay was over half a second a lap faster than Aron Einarsson and was able to establish a 7 second lead within the first 10 laps. He was not the only one who had gotten a handle on the conditions, championship rival Maximilian Thunström was also climbing up the field. He immediately moved past his slow starting teammate, before picking off Zvironas and Kruuda to move himself into the podium positions. After a few laps Thunström had moved himself onto the back of Einarsson, and on Lap 11 he made his move at the famous Corkscrew. Diving up the inside Thunström made his move stick and was up to 2nd, albeit with a significant gap to Barclay. But that gap would not last long. Since the start of the race, teams had been tracking a large rain cloud approaching from the southeast. Suddenly the rain arrived, and chaos ensued. As the field entered Turn 6 they found that the grip which could once be found was no longer there. First Urmo Kruuda skated off the track, losing several seconds but being able to recover from the gravel. Following behind him Dominykas Zvironas was not so lucky, with his Manziel skating across the gravel trap and into the wall. Other drivers were also going off, and it was only a matter of time before another driver joined Zvironas in the wall. The unlucky driver was K8ley’s Leo Brzyski and with two drivers in the barriers the safety car was called for, removing the advantage that Barclay once had. But it seemed that the Porsche had plenty of pace to show off, with Barclay pulling away from the championship leader in the short amount of time before the pit stops took place. With the top 4 pitting, Urmo Kruuda moved into the lead with JvS taking 2nd place after a pass on Rodolfo de la Fuente. While still a little away from the lead battle, the 3rd of the title battlers was on the move, passing Robert Stefánsson in the pitstops to move into an effective 4th place. On Lap 42 it was time for Urmo Kruuda to relinquish his lead and make the only pitstop of the race for the medium tyre runners. This was to drop him down to 7th, noticeably lower than where he had been at the last restart. Up ahead of him the lead battle was heating up, with Barclay making a mistake through Turn 1 that dropped him into the clutches of Thunström. As the race ticked over halfway the gap was only 0.6 seconds, but with the Porsche’s pace advantage things still seemed relatively comfortable for Barclay. Part 2What might have made the lead less comfortable was the second safety car of the race, triggered after Olen Inman suffered a suspension failure and was pitched into the Turn 10 wall at high speed. This created problems for the soft runners, who would be due for pitstops shortly after the restart of the race. With the field bunched up, Barclay would have to go hell for leather to pull any sort of gap on Urmo Kruuda, the leading medium runner in 8th. He was to be closely followed by Maximilian Thunström, but not for long. A lockup into Turn 1 and Thunström was off into the, thankfully tarmac, run off. The Swede was down but not out, recovering to 5th behind Sam Hudson who had just pulled off an impressive double pass on the GP1 duo. With pitstops due, Barclay was forced to relinquish the lead, setting up the final showdown for the win. The Canadian came out in 10th, with Zozulya following him out after a pitstop pass on Aron Einarsson. With 28 laps remaining, the Canadian began by picking off the Hyundai of J-P Raatikainen, but there was still a 25 second gap to the lead. And that lead had just changed hands. Smelling a chance of an upset victory, the experienced Spaniard Rodolfo de la Fuente was all over the back of Kruuda for the lead. Having just gotten a 2nd place last race, he was eager to go one better and get his first win in 18 months. Into Turn 3, he made his move. Putting his foot down, de la Fuente was able to gradually pull away from Kruuda, establishing a 4 second lead with just 10 laps remaining. And it was beginning to look less likely that there would be a late charge from the soft tyres. Jules Barclay was making little headway, only managing one pass on the struggling Steven Kasami. In fact, Zozulya was able to pass the Canadian but the gap was not shrinking and it was clear that the race would be between the medium tyre runners. And suddenly it seemed de la Fuente was struggling. Perhaps Kruuda had been biding his time earlier because as the laps ticked down the Estonian was slowly but surely gaining on de la Fuente. Further back it seemed Jaguar’s Jochem van Snelheid, on paper in the fastest car, would not be a factor. The Dutchman was dropping back, with Kiara Thunder passing him to put her Renault into a vital podium position. But all eyes were on the front of the race. Could de la Fuente’s struggling tyres hang on? Or could Urmo Kruuda seize the opportunity for his first ever race win? With 4 laps to go, Kruuda was back. He harried de la Fuente, showing the nose every opportunity he could get. And soon he was past, with a confident move into the final corner putting the Lada into the lead. And it was a lead he would hold, becoming the 23rd winner in eVirtual’s history. Despite losing the lead, de la Fuente could hold his head high with back-to-back second places. In 3rd place, Kiara Thunder completed a mixed up triple crown podium ahead of Arrow’s Zander Brynildsen, who capped off a brilliant day for the German team. With a late race charge, Sam Hudson was the best placed soft tyre runner in 5th, just ahead of Jochem van Snelheid and the disappointed Jules Barclay. Rounding out the top 10 were Zozulya, Einarsson and Kip Maxwell, with Thunström placing 11th in a rare off day for the Swede. To round out the points, Östberg led home Erik Oliversson and Nick Addison of Hyundai. At the top of the table, the title race has been compressed, with just 20 points separating the top 3 of Thunström, Zozulya and Barclay. The only other drivers remaining in mathematical contention with an outside chance of the title are Lada’s duo of Hudson and Kruuda. And despite their drivers being in 4th and 5th respectively, Lada’s 3rd win of the season has seen them shoot up the table to become strong contenders with just a four point gap to Jaguar. Downton and Porsche also remain in contention, although Porsche will need Bergkvist to start scoring points if they are to have any chance. Another team on the move after a great race are Arrow, the Germans shooting up the table in recent races to put themselves in with a chance of 5th place by the end of the season. The championship battles could be decided next time out, as the series heads to the ICAR Speedway for the Canadian eV-Prix and the last oval race of the season. Final ClassificationChampionship Standings
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