Consistent finishing had taken Caruso to the top of the points standings, having never finished outside the top six heading to the Red Bull Ring, along with strong qualifying that’s seen him take two pole positions.
However Caruso had to settle for second on the grid, alongside another repeat pole-sitter, as he couldn’t displace Alejandro Sanchez’s time in qualifying. Zac Campbell and defending champion Diogo Pinto would form the second row, with the four drivers separated by less than a tenth of a second in a typically tight session.
Sprint races in PESC can be steady affairs at the front as drivers look to secure a good starting place for the bigger rewards in the feature race, and it was again relatively sensible in the early stages. Campbell and Julian Soenen found themselves slipping backwards, with Pinto and Sebastian Job moving up into second and third respectively. Caruso though made his move for the lead on lap six, getting a better run out of the tight third corner and down the hill to beat Sanchez into turn four.
Sanchez soon came under pressure from both Pinto and Job behind, with Pinto going the long way around turn four on the next lap to get the inside line for Rauch and Wurth. That resulted in Sanchez running a little wide and immediately swamped by Job and Campbell to fall to fifth. The top five would finish in that order, but Sanchez was struggling for late-race pace and backing up the cars behind battling over the all-important eighth position. That may have contributed to an incident between Jamie Fluke and Bryn Collins on the penultimate lap which saw Collins get turned round at turn three and drop down the order.
Round 5 Sprint Race Results
1. Jordan Caruso (Altus Esports) - 10 laps
2. Diogo C. Pinto (Team Redline) - +1.153s
3. Sebastian Job (Red Bull Esports) - +2.038s
Moreno Sirica was the main beneficiary of the collision between Fluke and Collins, taking pole position for the feature race alongside Fluke. However the Williams driver got the worst start of the front three and found himself behind Fluke before the first turn. Soenen then passed the Italian driver into turn three, and Sanchez made it three by the end of the lap. After an excellent first race Caruso was slipping back, while rookie Gustavo Ariel was moving in the other direction as he climbed up into the top six – at Sirica’s expense – on lap six.
At the front, Fluke was soon a sitting duck for Sanchez, with the two ART-run entries going side-by-side through turn three. Pinto took advantage of Fluke being out of position to grab second, and the two started to pull away over the next few laps. Surprisingly Ariel was now in the top five, after getting past 2020 champion Job in turn three, and lined up Fluke for the exact same move on lap 12 to get onto the cusp of the podium – and as Sanchez and Pinto battled for the lead ahead, Soenen, Ariel, and Campbell were all now on the same piece of road.
An incredible few laps saw the lead switch between Sanchez and Pinto, before it all boiled over approaching the end of lap 17. Pinto sent in a pass through turn nine, which saw Sanchez respond in kind at turn ten; Pinto ended up running wide and falling down to the back of the top five, and with Sanchez also slowed a little it was Ariel that would take the lead.
Incredibly Ariel then dragged clear, perhaps aided a little by Sanchez, Campbell, and Soenen battling to be the head of the queue behind him. Pinto wasn’t done yet either, passing Soenen and Campbell on the penultimate lap to get back onto the podium. But nobody could catch the Brazilian rookie, who secured his first ever race win – and the first for any rookie driver – by almost a full second. With Caruso recovering from several incidents to place 12th, he leads the table at the halfway stage by 31 points from Charlie Collins, with Pinto a point further back.
Round 5 Feature Race Results
1. Gustavo Ariel (TXC Racing) - 20 laps
2. Alejandro Sánchez (Stormforce ART) - +0.916s
3. Diogo C. Pinto (Team Redline) - +1.506s
Bobby Zalenski became the fourth winner in four rounds of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series this season, taking victory at a bad-tempered event at Richmond Raceway, Virginia.
As he has been so often in the eNASCAR series, Zalenski was on pole position for the race at Richmond’s unusual D-shaped short-track, and blasted into an early lead over the chasing pack led by Nick Ottinger. That advantage was wiped out by a caution on lap 35, which saw the entire field pit but Zalenski somehow coming out behind Ottinger.
Zalenski just sneaked past Ottinger when the second caution came almost 30 laps later, but from there the cautions were coming along in chains. Eventually, after eight yellows, race control switched to single-file restarts, and that gave Zalenski the breathing space over 2022 Richmond winner Michael Conti to take victory.
Round 4 Results
1 - Bobby Zalenski (Joe Gibbs Racing) - Toyota Camry - 130 laps
2 - Michael Conti (JR Motorsports) - Chevrolet Camaro - +0.905s
3 - Jimmy Mullis (Rise Esports) - Chevrolet Camaro - +1.280s
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