The final leg of the season is upon us, and a mixed up qualifying has left this race entirely up in the air. Our three championship contenders will start in 14th, 16th and 17th, and there are 8 manufacturers represented in the top 10. With his first ever pole position, Sam Hudson is looking to resurrect his championship charge, but he will have to fend off the competition led by BMW’s Kip Maxwell. Both are running today’s preferred strategy on the medium tyres, with eVirtual finally leaving the frigid European winter behind. Sticking with the softs regardless are Porsche, Thunder, Brzyski, Christodoulou, Addison and Yoshida while both Arrow’s are running the hard tyres alongside Ethan Matthews and Gabriele Garcia. Part 1Away from the line it was a strong start from Sam Hudson. The American made sure to take the lead into turn 1 and from there he did not look back. A succession of fast lap times gave him a solid 4 second lead within the opening laps, and as Kip Maxwell fell into the clutches of those behind Hudson was able to pull away further and further. De la Fuente had been unable to get away well on his hard tyres and was passed by the Renault of Kiara Thunder, who then latched onto the back of Maxwell. Thunder had been hoping to make good use of the soft tyres but found herself bogged down behind Maxwell, frustrated by her British compatriots' defensive driving. She would not have pressure from behind at least, as Brzyski was also struggling to make full use of his soft tyres and was mired in a battle over 4th place with de la Fuente and Einarsson. Despite all representing a different tyre compound, their pace was fairly even and Brzyski was unable to make any more progress beyond 4th. With his lead established, Hudson began to ease off the pace to keep a steady gap without overdriving his Lada. First pit stops were soon due on Lap 14 for the soft tyre runners, and Kiara Thunder’s hopes of using the undercut were dashed when she came out right alongside Erik Oliversson. Further back, a big mistake for Ethan Matthews sent the Downton tumbling down the order, and after the first lot of pitstops it was Oleksandr Zozulya who found himself up in 5th, putting the Ukrainian in a position to gain good points from Thunström. Lap 18 saw the medium runners making their first stops, with Sam Hudson dropping to 4th behind the hard tyre trio of de la Fuente, Brynildsen and Matthews. The time spent in traffic had hampered Kiara Thunder as, despite her tyre advantage, she remained behind Kip Maxwell after the BMW’s pit stop. Leo Brzyski had shown Thunder what was possible, pulling out a solid advantage over Einarsson and putting the slower Garcia between them as the midway point of the race approached. Once again Sam Hudson began to push as he started his stint, continuing to open his advantage over Kip Maxwell. By Lap 21 the gap had grown to 10 seconds and as the leading trio came in to make their first stops on Lap 28 the American swept into a 14 second lead. Pit stops were also due for the soft tyre runners again, and it began to look like their strategy may not be working out as well in Colombia. Thunder found herself all the way down in 17th, behind most of the hard tyre runners with one more pit stop to make. She was going to have to extract every bit of pace from her soft tyres to get herself back into contention in the second half of the race. Meanwhile, the championship favourites were moving towards the front of the field. The latest pit stops saw Zozulya and Thunström move into 3rd and 4th respectively, although Barclay was struggling with a soft tyre strategy. Part 2As the second half of the race began the race was finally settling down after a wave of pit stops. In the top 10 the only real movement was from Opel’s Cosmo Roberts making his way past van Snelheid and Hölzberg. Further back Thunder was slowly making her way forward, but with only 3 places gained in 10 laps it was looking less and less likely that her strategy would play out in her favour. Indeed, her final pitstop dropped her further down the field, leaving the Brit with yet more work to do. Final pit stops were also due for the medium runners, and Sam Hudson was able to build up such a lead that he came out of the pitlane with his first place still intact by 2 seconds over Rodolfo de la Fuente. Thunström continued his march up the field, passing Aron Einarsson through the sweeping Turn 7 just a few laps prior to pitting. This put the two title rivals in 4th and 5th for the last 14 lap shootout, albeit with a 24 second gap to the leader. With time ticking down, the quiet period of the race was certainly over. Thunström was right on the back of Zozulya after the pit stops and he wasted no time in putting pressure on the Ukrainian. Eventually that pressure paid off, with Zozulya running wide out of the final corner and allowing Thunström through along with Einarsson and Maxwell. Zozulya would have a lot of work to do in the final 10 laps, although he could take heart from Thunström’s inability to pull away from Einarsson. Further ahead, the all-Arrow battle for the podium places swung in favour of Zander Brynildsen, with the Norwegian slipping past his teammate for 2nd place. But with the hard tyres being unable to match his pace it was looking like Sam Hudson’s race to lose up front. And indeed the Lada would take a comfortable victory, the first time he has won more than once in a season. But the eyes of the public were not on the American. Zander Brynildsen had pushed hard to pass his teammate but had been completely unable to catch Hudson, and now his tyres were paying the price. With just one lap remaining de la Fuente was right on the back of his sister car, and at the final corner he made his move. Diving to the inside, de la Fuente was able to make the move and claim his best result since China 2022. While unable to make any attempt at the podium, Thunström did manage a comfortable 4th place, continuing the consistency that seems him leading the championship despite not winning a race since Round 1. Zozulya was able to rescue 5th with a late pass on Kip Maxwell, while Aron Einarsson grabbed himself a solid 7th place finish. The final points positions were all filled by medium runners, perhaps signifying the strongest strategy in this race. Urmo Kruuda took 8th, from Cosmo Roberts and Jochem van Snelheid. In the championship battles, a poor race for Barclay has again hampered him in the title fight. Still, with 3 races remaining there is still a chance for the Porsche driver. Unfortunately, even with Hudson’s 2nd win of the season, the American still has a near 50 point deficit to overhaul in the remaining three races and while mathematically capable of taking the title it seems extremely unlikely he will do so unless he can put in a strong triple crown performance. In the constructors' chase, Jaguar maintain their lead, while good races from Lada and Arrow see both teams shoot up the table. With just 3 rounds remaining eVirtual now travels north to Laguna Seca for the American All-Stars Race, the final triple crown race of the season. This could be a make or break race for the championship, and all eyes will be on eVirtual. Final ClassificationChampionship Standings
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