After 11 races, both maiden eVirtual titles are up for grabs – in the drivers’, Brock Kidd starts sixth, but only needs two points to win the championship, while rival Oleksandr Zozulya, who needs to win, starts tenth. Both of their teams are also in the running for the teams’ title – Downton have an 11-point lead over Jaguar, with the former’s Kip Maxwell lining up eight and the latter’s Will Taylor fourth. But at the front, it’s not the title contenders, but Alexander McLaughlin and Jochem van Snelheid who will lead from the start. McLaughlin covered off van Snelheid on the long run down to turn 2, with Sebastian Bergkvist in close company. Maxwell and Zozulya were quick to make up ground – they dispatched of both Renault cars before the end of the first lap to run seventh and eight behind Kidd. At the back, Hitoshi Katayama’s nightmare season ended as he stalled on the grid, before being pushed back into the pits to retire. The biggest gainer on the opening lap was Luke Stokey, who made up four places to 12th, ahead of Ryota Yoshida who also improved two places. Back at the front, Kidd put in a crucial move on Felipe Cesar to move into fifth, just behind Taylor. Otso Toivonen joined Katayama in retirement before quarter race distance when his car overheated.
Kidd now looked for a way past Taylor, while behind Zozulya was beginning to look feisty, forcing his way past Maxwell at Firestone Turn. He then passed Cesar through turn 1, to move up behind the American title leader. Getting the hurry up from the pit wall, Kidd got more aggressive and threw his car up the inside of Taylor at Tecate Turn. The Briton was caught by surprise and spun on the exit of the corner. He dropped behind Zozulya and Cesar, putting a dent in Jaguar’s title hopes. Back at the front, van Snelheid was keeping close to McLaughlin and just before half distance, he surprised the Mitsubishi with a bold move at turn 4 to take the lead. In the midfield, it was becoming a race of attrition. Robert Stefansson crashed out at turn 8 after a poor start, while Yoshida and Steven Kasami both lost power in their cars. Things were beginning to heat up, as Zozulya started banging in fastest laps to close up to Kidd. Kidd, knowing Zozulya still needed to pass another 3 cars to have any chance at the title, didn’t defend too hard, as the Ukrainian slipped through into fourth. The team members on the Downton pit wall were starting to get nervous however – Maxwell was passed by Stuart Harrison, meaning Jaguar were now outscoring Downton by 7 points. Meanwhile, the top three were getting very close and a collision seemed imminent. It happened when Bergkvist stuck his nose up McLaughlin’s inside at the final corner and spun him around. The polesitter dropped down to fifth while Bergkvist now was running in second, but with a wounded car. This promoted Zozulya to the podium, with Jaguar now beating Downton by 8 points – still 4 points short of what they needed. The damage to Bergkvist’s car was significant and he dropped back dramatically – while on the other hand, a furious McLaughlin was flying. The Mitsubishi driver fought past Kidd and Zozulya in quick succession, neither of the two able to hold him off, before going back past the Swede who then dropped behind the two title contenders. Then, two late quick retirements changed the picture – Cesar’s suspension collapsed to leave Maserati with a double DNF, before Kip Maxwell spun off with brake issues. With Taylor now up to sixth just behind Bergkvist and Maxwell out, Jaguar were now looking at outscoring Downton by 12 points, exactly what the needed to do for the win. With van Snelheid well up the road and McLaughlin much faster, there wasn’t an opportunity for Zozulya to make up further positions, but Taylor increased his team’s chances by getting past Bergkvist. While Ivan Lesic joined the awfully large retirement list with a loss of power, Downton were frantic on the radio, telling Kidd to get past Zozulya at all costs. With just 3 laps to go, the Downton driver got the Jaguar on the defensive at the final corner, before getting alongside on the exit. They ran side by side through turn 1 and down towards turn 2. Zozulya had the inside line, but Kidd had the confidence, as he held his position around the inside and took the place through turn 3 – putting Downton back into position to win the title. The celebrations had already started at the time in the Tesla garage, and a lap later van Snelheid crossed the line to take his and the team’s first win. McLaughlin couldn’t catch up, but second was a fantastic recovery after the collision with Bergkvist. Kidd pulled away from Zozulya and finished third, to become the first ever eVirtual champion. Fourth and fifth with the fastest lap wasn’t enough for Jaguar, as Downton – just about – took the title. Sixth marked a missed opportunity for Bergkvist, ahead of Harrison. Rodrigo Sanchez overtook Aron Einarsson early on to take eight ahead of the Icelander, with Olen Inman rounding out the points in an attrition filled race. As mentioned, Kidd won the title having finished every race he reached the end in on the podium – with ultimately a 26-point advantage over Zozulya. Taylor passed Cesar for third in the championship, while McLaughlin moved up to fifth ahead of Yoshida and Maxwell. Downton’s final advantage over Jaguar was just 2-points, as the two British teams finished well clear of the rest of the pack. Mitsubishi held off Porsche for fifth, with Tesla just missing out on sixth. Towards the back, Nakley drew level with Lada on points for ninth, but still stay behind on countback.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
April 2024
Categories |