The following are race reports from round 1 of the 2020 Virtual Americas Racing Series. With a new crop of enthusiastic rookies, eyes were locked on the track for the weekend in order to see the new talent finally making their way to the scene. With last year's top 3 departing for other ventures, it was clear to see this year would be intriguing from the outset with the door seemingly "wide open"; though Henri Ruotsalainen is an early favourite with those in the know having moved across after finishing third in VERS last season. The series also features rookie Barney Hoskins - immediately in the limelight as the son of Formula Virtual racer Will. QualifyingThe bid for pole position at the Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo was a highly contested one, with returning drivers of Logan James and Carl Sandholm, battling against the British rookie of Barney Hoskins in his Lopez Racing car. Ultimately, it was Henri Ruotsalainen who took a commanding pole position over the rest of the field for race one, yet behind him the grid looked even more enticing with the top 10 containing 5 rookies! After this, it was learned that Carl Sandholm would lead the grid heading into race 2 after a set of consistent laps served him the joint best average position over both grids (4th and 1st). He was followed by a trio of rookies in Barney Hoskins, Ellie-Mae Theodoulou and Antonio Felix, all looking eager to catch the Swedish driver off the start. Race OneAs ever with season openers, tension was intensely high at lights out in Argentina, and this was certainly the case for pole sitter Ruotsalainen, who collided with the wall at turn 3 after being squeezed out by emergant Logan James. The Brit was followed through by young cyprian Ellie-Mae Theodoulou who made up 4 positions at the start and Barney Hoskins. Further down the field, Juana Martinez seemed to be making a good debut race as she made up 2 positions in the starting phase of the race, but this was not meant to be as the Mexican's engine gave up coming onto the main straight.
Heading into the mid-section of the race, we saw early pace setter James get overtaken by Theodoulou, while the rookies behind slipped into the midfield as more experienced drivers in Chase Newfield and Carl Sandholm made their way through the grid. Track conditions played a part in race 1, even with qualifying being done on the track earlier that day, the track was extremely green until the ending phases of the race. With this, we saw both Danilo Casemiro and Robin Best make a short visit to the barriers in which they didn't recover from. From there, the race was fairly uneventful compared to the chaos that came before it, the top 3 all maintained their positions to the flag with debutee Theodoulou taking a somewhat dominant win over a still-battling Logan James and Chase Newfield. Behind them Freddie Hayward took fourth position with Hoskins, Campbell and Allen close behind respectively. Antonio Felix lead the train of Sandholm, Guerrero and Carrillo to the end with Toby Evans completing the points. Added to this, Theodoulou picked up the fastest-lap to lead the race home.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2023
Categories |