Coomans Cruises to NVIDIA Cup

by Tim Terry on September 29th, 2011

Jan Coomans was not to be denied in his quest for the NVIDIA  Cup in 2011 Season 3b as he piloted his Mazda-MX5 to the overall victory in the final round of the series at Okayama International Circuit. Nor did Coomans “back in” to the title, witness the fact that the Benelux Club sim racer took to the technical Japanese track nine times and came home as the winner in an incredible eight of those nine starts!

Coomans’ biggest win of the round came on Sunday as he started from the pole, turned the fastest lap and paced the field for all 25 circuits en route to the win in the 2666 sof event. The margin of victory for Coomans was seven seconds over second place finisher Daniel Schon. Kazuki Oomishima was third followed by Ander Estefania and Reuben Bonnici. The win put 167 points on the board for Coomans but when all other eligible finishes were factored in, the newly crowned champ left the “Short Course” with a “mere” 160 points — still plenty to clinch the NVIDIA Cup crown.

Robert Woloschuk brought his Mazda-MX5 home in second overall for the week amongst 1,900 others. Woloschuk, who lists Toronto, Ontario as his hometown, led all but two of the 25 laps in the 2421 sof race on September 22nd to defeat Steven Sidebotham, Nicholas Vandal, Simon Hill and John Dubets. The start was the only one of the week for Woloschuk and with the victory, the Canadian put 151 points up on the board for the week.

The 2011 Season 3b NVIDIA Cup finale brought more than 1,900 iRacers to Okayama.

Finland’s Roope Turkkila ended the week with 149 points and the third place overall from Week Four after four starts resulted in one victory. His victory took place on Sunday during a 2564 sof race in which Turkkila topped Marcos Martinez, Jacob Desmarais, Estefania and Daniel Kirsten. The race was rated at 2564 sof and saw Turkkila lead 21 laps from the outside of the front row with his margin of victory being 12 seconds.

Schon also did some winning of his own this week, capturing two victories in four starts over the seven day span. The biggest of his two triumphs came on September 24th as he drove to victory in the 2278 sof race. Oomishima finished over two seconds behind Schon in the second position, ahead of Rob D Harris, Jonathan Keer and Steven Linnert. The win brought Schon 142 points and, when combined with the above second place run to Coomans, brought the DE-AT-CH club driver 146 markers for the week’s work.

Omar Soto completed the week’s top five. Soto made a trio of starts, winning in one. Ironically though, the win he took home carried the fewer points than his other two starts, which both resulted in second place runs to Coomans. Soto finished the week with 138 points.

Harris and Jorge Alves each started 49 races over the final week of competition in 2011 Season 3b, or an equivalent of seven races a day. Jean Marc Laine and Estefania each took home eleven wins during Week Four. Coomans was the fastest qualifier with a 1:00.786 lap around Okayama. Max Dell’Orco, Schon, Mikko Nassi and Marcelo A Neiva completed the top five in qualifying.

While Coomans was the man in the Time Trial competition during Week Four, it was the second place driver from Okayama celebrating a Time Trial championship. Nassi would have a near perfect season in the NVIDIA Cup Time Trial chase, gaining 299 points of a possible 300. Turkkila finished second, one point behind Nassi with Dariusz Bielawski and Graham Sinclair not far behind with 297 and 296 points respectively. Completing the top five in the Time Trials was Laine.

Nassi would be second though when it came to racing, Coomans 512 points would stand for the championship. Nassi’s 450 points assured him of second place, just ahead of Schon (440). Neiva (425) and Soto (424) found themselves in a fight for fourth at the end of the season with Renaud Jouanny, Andrew Le, Bielawski, Turkkila and Julien Apruzzese not far behind within the top ten. In fact, Jouanny, Le, Bielawski and Turkkila finished with just three markers in between them while Le and Bielawski tied with 411 points! It just goes to show how close the competition is when 4,520 drivers get on track for a brief four week season.

The 2011 Season 3c campaign for the NVIDIA Cup is underway now on the iRacing service! Head over to see if you can unseed Coomans from the top spot as the Mazda-MX5’s roar to life at Lime Rock Park!

Until next time, keep the hammer down and we’ll see you at the track!