The 2018 IndyVirtual season kicked off in style with the AT&T V-Prix of Florida – held on the Streets of St Petersburg for the second time for a 110 lap race with a distance of 200 miles. In qualifying it was Morley drivers Nick Addison and Yakumi Takahashi who highlighted the strides the Australian team had made over the winter by locking out the first row of the grid, while 2017 Florida race winner and series champion Brock Kidd was in fifth place.
From the start, Addison and Takahashi seemed to play the team game into turn one, with the Japanese driver safely slotting in behind his Australian team mate, with Felipe Cesar, Kiara Thunder and Kidd all following through. Behind, the field were all relatively calm for the first start of the season, but Callum Brandon chopped across Dino Palma, leaving the Lancashire Racing Team driver facing the wrong direction, but still in the race. On the tight St Petersburg circuit, overtaking was at a premium, but Will Taylor and Marcus Thunder both showed what was possible, getting a run on Hugh Dwyer out of the final corner onto the runway on lap 8 before both diving inside the Canadian in the first corner, leaving the Morley driver stranded on the outside line. New for 2018, the pit stop strategies quickly came into play, with Keith Boston and Rodrigo Sanchez both pitting in the first segment, dropping them from 8th and 24th to 23rd and 26th respectively. Throughout the first 30 laps of the race, Addison was unable to gap his team-mate, and Takahashi eventually showed himself to be the quicker of the two as the race approached half distance – into the turn 4 right hander, he out-braked Addison and moved firmly to the inside to take the lead with a very clean move. It initially looked as if Addison would be able to fight back into turn 5, but Takahashi just moved all the way ahead, allowing him to cut across and confirm his position as leader of the race. As the race approached half distance, a number of drivers again pitted, most notably the Thunder siblings, with Kiara from 3rd and Marcus from 4th. They emerged in 7th and 9th, while both early stoppers hit trouble – Sanchez returned to the pits for a second time with electrical issues that were ultimately never solved, while Boston’s Toyota engine expired in the back of his Vroom, eliminating him as well. The first crash of the season occurred just after the second pitstop phase was complete, with Felipe Cesar going straight on into turn one and into the tyre wall. Due to the proximity of the incident to a marshal’s post, quick work from the safety team meant double waved yellows were sufficient to clear it. As the race entered its second half, Takahashi and Addison were nose to tail once more with their pitstops still to come. Will Taylor had moved up to third position but had not yet pitted, while Hugh Dwyer was in a similar position behind. Marcus Thunder managed to overtake his sister with a stunning move into turn 4, jinking left then right, unsettling his car over the 1st Street bumps yet maintaining full control, sliding down the inside of the Vroom car. It was during the third segment that most of the field elected to pit – including the leading Morley pair. They emerged in the order they had entered, but behind the very late stopping Hugh Dwyer, who took the lead. The only two other drivers yet to stop by the end of lap 81 were Jochem van Snelheid and Scott Parsons, running in 4th and 13th positions respectively. When Will Taylor pitted from 3rd position, his car stalled while the tyres were changed, and a burnt-out starter motor put paid to a good result for himself and the Rodeo Racing team as the Chevrolet block wouldn’t restart. The fight for the lead between the two Morley cars settled after the stops as Takahashi scythed past his new Canadian team mate and put a car and 6-second gap between himself and Addison. Dwyer eventually pitted on lap 91, re-emerging in fourth place behind Marcus Thunder. van Snelheid’s race was very nearly over when he clipped the inside wall at turn 3, forcing him to slow and allowing Kiara Thunder and Kidd past. The Dutchman pitted a lap later on lap 93 from 6th, and came back out in 7th behind Kiara Thunder, before moving back up to 6th when Brock Kidd lapped Mikko Heininen before the Finn failed to brake sufficiently for turn 1, rear-ending the defending champ and eliminating both from the race – though their rear and front wings respectively were extremely deranged, they both managed to limp home, avoiding the need for a full course caution. After 110 laps were completed, Takahashi and Addison took a 1-2 for Morley, with Marcus Thunder taking the final podium spot, albeit some twenty seconds back. Dwyer completed a stunning performance for Morley, taking fourth position, while best rookie was Jochem van Snelheid in 6th, capping an excellent debut for the Vroom Autosport team. Next up for the IndyVirtual series is a 1,300 mile trip up the east coast highways to historic Watkins Glen, host of the Steak ‘n Shake New York V-Prix. See below for full race classification and championship standings:
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April 2018
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