A rollarcoaster of a season that has seen plenty of action has led us up until this moment - the American eV-Prix around Long Beach. Today, Taylor, Zozulya and McLaughlin will do battle around the circuit for the drivers' title, while the Ukranian and his polesitting teammate Maxwell look to wrap up the teams' title for Downton. Strategy will play a crucial role, and most have opted for the softer two tyres, with only Bergkvist and Agostino on hards. 11 drivers have gone for mediums: both Downton's, Jaguar's, Lada's, Fusion's, Cesar, Davies and Vocquelin. The rest, including McLaughlin and front row starter Matthews, are on softs. Maxwell controlled the start well despite the medium tyres, but Matthews bogged down and lost 3 places, allowing McLaughlin and Yoshida onto the podium. Both gave chase to Maxwell but the Briton held firm over the first couple of laps. Zozulya and Taylor held position behind Cesar, as Vocquelin jumped past van Snelheid at the start for 10th. Hudson's season came to an early end when he tagged the barriers at turn 9 and broke his suspension on lap 6, all but ending Lada's slim title hopes.
Maxwell soon fell back behind McLaughlin and Yoshida but that was shortlived as the first round of pit stops for soft runners came on lap 12. Maxwell and Hutchinson retook the lead as McLaughlin re-emerged in 7th, with Zozulya in 4th and Taylor 5th. Yoshida was behind McLaughlin, with Thunder separating him from Matthews and Zvironas separating the OSM from Einarsson. While the order sorted itself out, Hutchinson began to close in on Maxwell for the lead, as did Zozulya and Taylor on Cesar. Feeling the pressure, Cesar locked up into the last corner at the end of lap 12, allowing Zozulya to pounce on him on the main straight. Taylor followed him through, and nearly passed the Downton, but Zozulya cut off the inside and kept the place. Further up, Hutchinson sold Maxwell a dummy into turn 9 and took the lead. Then, bizarrely, 3 separate incidents took place: Thunder crashed at turn 9, Ellington had slid into the wall at turn 5 and Agostino had spun off at turn 1. A safety car was brought out for 5 laps, coinciding with the medium drivers first pit stop on lap 16. Hutchinson emerged from the pits in 14th, ahead of Maxwell, Zozulya and Taylor. McLaughlin retook the lead, ahead of Yoshida, Matthews, Einarsson and Domenicalli. The restart took place on lap 19 and Downton played it brilliantly - Maxwell sent it on Hutchinson at the first corner and caught him by surprise, allowing Zozulya to follow through with a cheeky move into turn 4, before Maxwell allowed his teammate past. On the back foot, Jaguar ordered Hutchinson to cede to Taylor, but by then the orange cars had eeked a small advantage. Up front, Domenicalli had passed Einarsson into turn 6 before lap 24, the second stop for the soft runners. McLaughlin and Yoshida came out in front of the two Jaguars but behind the two Downtons, meaning at the halfway mark, Zozulya led a Downton 1-2 from McLaughlin, Yoshida, Taylor and Hutchinson - enough to give him the title. Cesar, Matthews, Domenicalli, Einarsson and Ostberg followed. With one pit stop remaining for soft and medium drivers, the former were expected to have an advantage but instead, the conditions were too cold to get the soft rubbers fully fired up. McLaughlin took a while to close in on Maxwell, and was met with a stern defense. Yoshida on the other hand fell prey to Taylor, moving the Briton into 4th with his rivals in sight. Cesar dispatched of Hutchinson while Ostberg pulled off a pair of nice overtakes on Einarsson and Domenicalli into the final corner, again on harder rubber. As the race hit lap 30, Taylor had closed up to the McLaughlin/Maxwell battle, with Zozulya just slightly further ahead. The medium runners had their final pit stop on lap 32, and it was a crucial turning point. Downton nailed Zozulya's pit stop but Maxwell's was slow, agonisingly slow. It allowed Taylor through, and back on track he closed up to Zozulya, applying the pressure. Hutchinson meanwhile dropped behind the now rapid Ostberg. The final pit stops of the year were on lap 36 for the soft runners, and the medium runners had got a nice undercut. McLauglin came out in 3rd, behind the leading Zozulya and Taylor, but ahead of Maxwell, with Yoshida behind Cesar and Matthews-Domenicalli-Einarsson behind Hutchinson. With 12 laps left, it was Taylor in position now - Zozulya winning with the Jaguar 2nd was not enough, the Ukranian needing McLaughlin to beat Taylor. That looked a million miles away from happening when McLaughlin, on the back of Taylor, misjudged his braking and half spun into the first corner on lap 40, costing him 6 seconds and dropping him behind Maxwell - it looked like his title chances were over. Taylor still wanted to wrap it up with a win though: he hounded Zozulya like a rash and when his rival left the door open into turn 8 on lap 42, he flinged his car through that door and took the lead, to the delight of the Jaguar pit wall. Behind them, Ostberg had dispatched Yoshida, while Einarsson reovertook Domenicalli. Zozulya, determined to leave eV on a high, stuck with Taylor, but the eyes were on McLaughlin who was charging. He blasted past Maxwell with 5 laps left and decimated the gap between himself and the front two, catching them with two laps remaining. There was action elsewhere, as Hutchinson saved his tyres for the end to pass both Ostberg and the two Maserati's, with the Swede also losing out to Yoshida - while Einarsson and Domenicalli demoted Matthews out of the points. But all eyes were at the front: Zozulya threw a dummy move at Taylor into turn 6 and the Jaguar nearly ran wide, but held on, as McLaughlin nearly pushed the Downton around the final two corners. They were line astern on the last lap, nose to tail past the fountain and the 90 degree turns of 5, 6 and 8. On the back straight, Zozulya got a nice slipstream. Taylor moved to the inside. Zozulya took the outside. McLaughlin spotted his opportunity. McLaughlin swung to the fair outside and braked later than possible. 3 abreast into turn 9. Zozulya in the middle had to back out. Taylor thought he had kept the lead on the inside, until a white and red Mitsubishi slingshotted alongside. McLaughlin had the inside for turn 10 - he hung Taylor to dry and went into the final hairpin first. He crossed the line first as well, and after a fantastic final lap, it was Alexander McLaughlin who took the flag first, punching the air, to win in Long Beach, and to win the second ever eVirtual title, ahead of Taylor and Zozulya who came oh-so-close to winning the championship, but had to hand it to the New Zealander. Maxwell in 4th confirmed Downton as the teams' champions, Hutchinson in 5th elevating Jaguar to 2nd. Cesar and Yoshida capped off Maserati's season in 6th and 7th, Ostberg still managed 8th from last with Einarsson and Domenicalli rounding out the points, confirming Renault and K8ley beat Arrow and OSM in the standings. But the day belonged to McLaughlin, who wins the eVirtual World Championship by 4 points over Taylor and 17 over Zozulya. The points don't reflect just how close it was in the end, and after another amazing season of racing, the eV season comes to a close. Thanks for following, and we will see you at Fuji when Formula Virtual kicks off!
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