Another cold morning dawned in Motegi for Round 4 of the eVirtual season and the first triple crown event of the 2023 season, the Japan 300. With cold temperatures making tyre warmup challenging, the top 10 starters all opted for an attacking 4 stop strategy. Further behind the BMW’s, Arrow’s and Hyundai’s chose to try a balanced strategy along Kruuda, Oliversson and Yuki. Unsurprisingly there were no drivers that were attempting the efficient strategy, seeing it as too risky in the single digit temperatures. Part 1As the field came to the green flag, Bergkvist backed up the field. Manziel’s Steven Kasami was the driver who timed the start best, jumping both van Snelheid and Matthews to leap into the podium positions. Other than that the start was fairly calm, but action soon picked up with Zvironas making a pass on Drake Davies for 6th. Then it was all eyes on the front of the field as Yoshida used the tow to great effect and passed Bergkvist for the lead entering Turn 3. Shortly after the pass for the lead, there was drama in the back of the field. The Arrow Mercedes of Rodolfo de la Fuente hit a bump heading into Turn 1 and spun out, striking the outside wall. Debris was flying as the cars passed below de la Fuente but not everyone could get through safely. De la Fuente’s car slid down the track and was collected by the Lamborghini of Diego Campos, cutting short the Spaniard’s recovery drive from a 3 place grid penalty. With the two cars recovered and the safety car returning to the pitlane, Yoshida got a good restart to lead Bergkvist into Turn 1. Van Snelheid was on the move, regaining his podium spot from Steven Kasami, while Ethan Matthews was struggling and lost 2 places in quick succession to Zvironas and Davies. Unfortunately when the field got up to speed Davies was noticeably struggling for pace and soon Ethan Matthews was tucking into the draft and looking to pass him. Matthews made his move into Turn 3 but misjudged it, sending both cars up the track and out of the racing groove. This allowed Jules Barclay to pass the both of them, and Davies was seen visibly frustrated with the risky manoeuvre of Matthews. As the race approached quarter distance the first pit stops were in order for all the competitors. The race had calmed down somewhat as teams and drivers settled down for a longer than usual race and Yoshida was able to maintain a comfortable lead through his first of 4 stops. The only drama’s were from Manziel, who found both drivers pitting in quick succession. Pitting second was Zvironas, and the Lithuanian was stuck behind his teammate and forced to concede 5th to Jules Barclay. Still, the pitstop could have gone worse, as Maserati’s Gianluca di Stefano proved when he was forced to retire with a mechanical issue after pulling into the pits. Part 2As the second quarter of the race began the action heated up in the lower half of the top 10. Drake Davies was clearly still harbouring a grudge against Ethan Matthews after the British rookie’s forceful move earlier, and he replied with a forceful move of his own. It didn’t pay off, and the pair lost multiple places, first to Östberg and then to title rivals Thunström and Zozulya who had found themselves together in the race. A few places behind them, the race was ended prematurely for Robert Stefánsson after a tap against the wall brought terminal suspension damage for the GP1 Cadillac. With the field settling in to their second stint Zvironas began to up the pace in his Manziel, picking off Barclay, teammate Kasami and van Snelheid in quick succession to move into the podium places behind Bergkvist. Up front Yoshida was pulling away though, establishing a commanding lead in the Bentley. His lead was such that he was able to hold on to second place after his second stop, coming out behind the BMW of Kip Maxwell. Crucially though, there were 4 balanced runners in between Yoshida and Bergkvist, giving him crucial breathing room as the race approached half distance. The 2nd round of pit stops also saw a 2nd mechanical retirement as Opel’s Sebastien Vocquelin saw a disappointing race come to an early end. With the balanced runners making their second stops, Ryota Yoshida passed the half distance point in a solid lead. The Porsche contingent of Bergkvist, Zvironas and Kasami were in hot pursuit, followed by Östberg and Jules Barclay, who had lost time in the stops along with van Snelheid. Rounding out the top 10 were Thunström, Zozulya and the slowly recovering Sam Hudson. Part 3Within only a couple of laps the top 10 was all change. To the frustration of the Manziel team, Zvironas and Kasami were battling hard amongst themselves and this allowed Östberg and Barclay to catch up. Soon both drivers were past in to 3rd and 4th, and to make matters worse Kasami was even unable to defend from van Snelheid after running into the marbles. Fortunately Kasami was able to spare his blushes, recovering well to pass van Snelheid a couple of laps later as the 3rd round of pit stops for the attacking strategies approached. This time, Yoshida’s lead was great enough that he maintained his lead over the leading balanced runner of Kip Maxwell. The separation between the two strategies was really starting to show, with Maxwell all the way down in 16th prior to the stops and out of the points. Once again tyre warmup was proving critical, and Bergkvist was unable to get himself up to speed. First Viktor Östberg slipped past his Swedish compatriot, before a clever bit of strategic teamwork from the Porsche’s allowed Jules Barclay past the both of them and up into 2nd place. The customer Manziel Porsche team were having a worse time of it though, as Zvironas struck the wall and was forced to retire from a promising top 10 position. The balanced runners' final stops were soon arriving, and this dropped them right to the rear of the field. So with the final quarter of the race approaching it was Bentley in the lead with Ryota Yoshida still in front after nearly 90 consecutive laps. Thunström and Zozulya were both gaining ground, and found themselves in 5th and 6th after relegating Kasami and van Snelheid down the order. Part 4The final pit stops came and went for the attacking runners and van Snelheid’s Jaguar crew gave him a lightning service, allowing him to pass Steven Kasami. It got better for the Dutchman as he was also able to pass Zozulya for 7th. This would have been 6th, but with all stops complete for the field the balanced strategy was finally bearing fruit for BMW’s Kip Maxwell who suddenly found himself at the sharp end of the race after running outside of the top 10 for most of the race. Unfortunately these lofty heights may have given the Brit some vertigo, and he dropped steadily down the order to find himself in 10th just 5 laps later. From there the race became a lot more settled, with the main action being an all-Swede scrap over 4th place between Thunström and Bergkvist. The battle would go to the death with Bergkvist making a penultimate lap move stick to take the place by 4 tenths of a second at the line. Ahead of them a dominating performance from Ryota Yoshida ended in a comfortable home victory for the Bentley driver over Barclay and Östberg. Behind the Swedish battle, it was a fight for 6th place with Kasami managing to hold off Zozulya, van Snelheid and Hudson. Rounding out the top 10, a late race move from Zander Brynildsen made him the flag bearer for the balanced strategy, leading home Drake Davies who also had been on a late race charge to pass Kip Maxwell and Urmo Kruuda. Nick Addison finished 14th and Ethan Matthews rounded out the points after a disappointing day. With the Asian leg of eVirtual now all wrapped up, the series will return in 2 weeks time to Donington Park for the British eV-Prix. As we get into the middle of the season the title race is heating up, with Jules Barclay and Ryota Yoshida moving into dark horse contention after their 1st and 2nd places gained them double points. With 4 drivers from 4 different teams in contention it’s anyone’s guess as to who will be on top next time out in Britain. Final ClassificationChampionship Standings
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