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  • David Phillips
    Editor and Chief
    David Phillips is a long-time contributor to print and electronic publications in the U.S. and abroad, including Racer, Autosport, AutoWeek, Motor Sport and SPEEDtv.com, oversees the daily updating of news stories and assigns, edits and contributes feature material for inRacingNews.com.
  • Chris Hall
    iRacing.com Series Writer
    Chris Hall has been writing since the nineties and moved into motorsports reporting in 2005, covering series such as ALMS, British GT, FIA GT, Le Mans and 2CV racing for Full Throttle magazine, Motorsport.com, The-Paddock.net, GTGateway.com, L' Endurance and, of course, inRacingNews. During 2008 and 2009, he worked with the RSS Performance Porsche Carrera Cup Team (and former British GT(C) champions) as a data engineer for a variety of drivers and models of 997s.
  • Jameson Spies
    Contributing Writer
    19 years old, Jameson Spies lives in Quartz Hill, California. He grew-up surrounded by racing. His mother raced late models throughout Southern California while his father built and setup the car. Not surprisingly, Jameson began racing go-karts at the age of 13, and is now racing Spec Trucks at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. He has a passion about all forms of racing and hopes to make a career out of it.
  • Jason Lofing
    iRacing.com Series Writer
    Jason is 21 years old and was born and raised in Elk Grove. California. A big time NASCAR fan, he hasn’t missed a race on Sunday in years. Lofing is also a huge San Fransisco Giants fan and tries to take in at least a couple games a year. Other than sim racing, his biggest (and far more expensive!) hobby is photography. Although he is rather new to sim racing, Lofing has already accomplished some pretty impressive results, qualifying for the 2011 iRacing Oval Pro Series in Season 1, 2011, winning the inaugural Landon Cassill Qualifying Challenge and finishing runner-up in the second one.
  • David Ifeguni
    Contributing Writer
    I was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1988 and moved to Midland, Michigan when I was two years old. I stayed there until third grade when I moved to Farmington Hills, Michigan and now I currently live in Naperville, IL where I'm attending Metea Valley High School as a 9th grader. In the past, I have participated in soccer and this year I plan on joining swimming or water polo. My family includes my 15 year old sister, a 7 year old sister and my mom and dad. I have been writing since 6th grade and have participated in many writing contests in my school and have received several awards for writing.
    My fascination for motorsports began when I was nine. The first NASCAR race I watched on TV was the 2009 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway, won by Kasey Kahne. My favorite NASCAR drivers are Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Jimmie Johnson. I have watched all the races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series since 2010. I currently have three wins on iRacing, two of them in the Nationwide car at Daytona and one in the Street stocks at Charlotte. My favorite car and type of track on iRacing is the Nationwide Series (B Class) car and superspeedways.
  • Katier Scott
    Contributing Writer
    I am a veteran sim racer who first started racing way back in 1993 on the SPRTSIMS section of Compuserve with a league who can trace themselves all the way to the present. Within that league I act as Chief Steward and try to bring the unique viewpoint that this experience gives me into my articles.
    I have a BA (Hons) in Journalism and Editorial design and have been writing for seven years and currently cover the Lotus 79 CTC and Radical series alongside my freelance work. Living in the UK, as well as motorsports I love Photography, Arts and Crafts and reading.
  • Dylan Sharman
    Contributing Writer
    I was born in Adelaide and we moved-out for Angle Vale for a few years until I was about 7 years old, when we moved to the Barossa Valley where I live now. I'm 19 years old and currently traveling back and forth weekly as I'm studying for a Diploma of Furniture Design and Technology.

    I've always had a love for racing as my close family did some racing and we were always out at the local dirt track. I joined iRacing back in 2010 and slowly but surely got the hang of it as this is my first experience with sim racing and am loving it each time I race. I've won two SK Modified titles (almost had three in a row but finished P2 in 2011 S4), an inRacingNews Challenge championship (2012 S1 Mazda) and was also an AustralAsian Intel GT Series Finalist.
  • Nathan Aljoe
    Contributing Writer
    Nathan's passion for motorsport first began in the late 1980s, captivated by the season in which Aryton Senna won his first F1 title with McLaren. Over the years his interest widened to include the British Touring Car Championship, World Rally Championship, NASCAR and various other forms of motorsport. Nathan began sim-racing in the mid 1990s using games developed by Papyrus. He later moved onto SimBim simulations such as GTR, GTR2 and GTR Evolution and has most recently joined the iRacing community.

    When he's not working or sim racing, Nathan enjoys spending time and relaxing with his family. Other hobbies include going to festivals, tinkering with his car and doing up his house.
  • Austin Hartenfels
    Contributing Writer
    Born and raised in Fredericksburg, Virginia, I have always had a serious passion for cars and motorsports. Hoping one day to become an automotive journalist for a magazine, I constantly crave the exciting competition that comes along with racing and sim-racing. Having participated in a mere test session in a Legends car at Old Dominion Speedway, I have not been able to get into any real-life competition . . . yet.

    As a sim racer, my interests date back to "GTR Evolution." My goal is to have fun and win some races. I made it to Oval Pro in 2010, but did not become very successful. I enjoy any mixed road racing competition and love racing the Silverados around almost any track.
  • Jordan Hightower
    Contributing Writer
    Jordan began sim-racing in 2005 with the NASCAR Racing 2003 Season sim and then joined the iRacing community in June of 2008. He hails from Fort Smith, Arkansas where he is currently enrolled at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith, after which he plans to attend the University of Arkansas to earn his MBA. Although he enjoys watching and playing basketball, most of Jordan's focus is on motorsports, particularly NASCAR: "Anything that burns gas and goes fast, I like."
  • Scott Kelly
    Contributing Writer
    Born and raised in the greater St. Louis, Missouri area, Scott Kelly has had a love for motorsports ever since his father did the right thing by introducing auto racing into his life. No longer able to quench his need for speed by spectating NASCAR races on TV and watching dirt track stars slide around local tracks, Kelly eventually picked-up sim racing in his teens, wheeling cars found in Ratbag Games' "Dirt Track Racing" and "World of Outlaws: Sprint Cars" while also becoming introduced into multiple Papyrus sim-racing series. Joining the iRacing ranks in late 2011, Kelly set his sights on the short track racing he was familiar with, focusing on the sprint car, while also driving the Legends and street stock in multiple iRacing.com leagues.

    Kelly brings not just his enthusiasm for racing to the highest-rated motorsports simulation, but also his B.A. degree in English; he covers the action seen in the iRacing.com Sprint Car Series, while also placing the spotlight on various leagues within the service. Enjoying his start to a career in motorsports journalism, Kelly also doesn't mind visiting victory lane from time-to-time.
  • Kenneth O'Keefe
    Contributing Writer
    Kenneth was born in Smithville, Ontario on December 23, 1994. A major racing fan, he enjoys competitive kart racing in the Rotax Max category at Mosport International Karting. Kenneth also tunes into Formula One and NASCAR races on those Sundays when he is not at the kart track.

    O'Keefe has been sim-racing since 2005, starting on the Live For Speed simulator. After moving to iRacing in 2008, he was able to qualify for the NASCAR iRacing Pro Series (NiPS) in both 2011 and 2012. He will continue to compete and write about the iRacing.com Skip Barber Series throughout the coming year before taking another run at the NiPS in late 2013.
  • Chris Owens
    Contributing Writer
    I was born in Florence, South Carolina in 1989 and have lived here my entire life. I've been around racing since I was a young kid watching with my dad on Sundays. In 2009 and found my local track, Florence Motor Speedway and started working for them as a PR guy the same year. At the end of that season, I started writing for RACE22.com, a Late Model Stock Car news site. In 2010, I picked up my first DSLR camera and started shooting races. To this day, I've experienced some of the best races from behind the camera.

    I've been with the iRacing service since its public beta in 2008, back when the top oval car was the Late Model. I've been in over 500 races on the service with 70+ wins on both oval and road. My favorite car on the service is the Chevrolet Silverado. Darlington Raceway and Concord Speedway are my favorite tracks simply because everybody hates them.
  • George Wood
    Contributing Writer
    After beginning his racing career with go-karts at age seven, George then turned wrenches on street stocks until he could finally turn the wheel. Following the successes of his friends and family, George has since retired from real-world racing, where he is now a science and mathematics faculty member for several local community colleges. When George isn't grading laboratory reports or iRacing, he is performing at bluegrass festivals in the Northeast, making fishing lures, playing golf, and rooting for his beloved Baltimore Orioles.

Bumpy Ride for IndyCar Sim Racers at Sebring

by Dennis Grebe on March 24th, 2010

Drivers of the IndyCar Series in Round Seven at Sebring International Raceway faced a bumpy and challenging track but made the best of it, with all but two drivers collecting less than 20 incidents on the challenging Florida track.  Even with the Round competing for participation with the iRacing World Tour’s 120 Minutes of  Sebring on Saturday, the number of sim racers involved climbed to 141, a solid increase of 14 from the week at Infineon Raceway.

Dork

Brian Kerr leads Maximilian Vietmeier and others down to the hairpin at Sebring.

The highest Strength of Field (2726) race this week took place on Thursday in the 9:30pm (GMT) race. Brian Kerr and Maximilian Vietmeier looked set to battle it out for the win, but due to racing incidents and bad luck each ended up several laps down, leaving the top spots to drivers like Englishman Neil Stratton, who collected 151 points for his second place finish. Italian Andrea Baldi had some incidents as well but still managed to take home third for 132 points.

OOPS

Vietmeier’s mangled car after a spin into the barriers caused by earlier suspension damage. In the background Neil Stratton recovers from a spin.

In another high Strength of Field race on Saturday in the 5:30pm (GMT) slot, Joao Vaz won in style and collected 160 points. Vietmeier, after his bad luck earlier in the week, took second in a solid and incident-free race well ahead of Scandinavian Teppo Savela.

Despite the bumpy track and a competing online racing event, some drivers competed frequently in the IndyCar races at Sebring.  Henrik Müller had the most starts of the week at six. However he didn’t manage to get a top five finish out of any of his races and, in the end, had to settle for 75 points. Daniel Brookins and Robert Hedan each started five races and managed to score two top five finishes each, giving them 75 and 96 points, respectively. Brian Kerr meanwhile scored the most wins of the week at three, winning  all but one of his four races. Ironically, the one he didn’t win was the one which would have given him the most points.  Nevertheless, the Celtic club driver came away from the track scoring 143 points for the championship.

In the overall standings Vaz continued to open up the gap on second placed Frenchman Joel Guez, increasing his lead from 83 to 108 points. Carlo Labati is still in second, now 143 points behind Vaz. Canadian Martin Blais dropped out of the top five this week, being overtaken by Jukka Savolainen for fourth (177 points behind Vaz, but with one less week counted) and Stratton moving into fifth, just four points behind Savolainen. Blais is now sixth, only another two points behind Stratton. Among the drivers to watch in the following weeks is Klaus Ellenbrand from the DE-AT-CH club, currently placed 11th but with only five weeks counted so far for a total of 706 points. Depending on how the season develops he could even have a chance to battle with Joao Vaz for the overall lead. Australian Paul Luck, currently in tenth position, looks to be in good position to get close or even overtake the likes of Stratton and Blais once drop weeks come into effect and everyone at the top will be at eight counted weeks.

Kerr heads into the barriers in Turn One while Stratton passes by safely.

Kerr heads into the barriers in Turn One while Stratton passes by safely.

For those interested in the regional standings, France leads the pack with 2070 club points from IndyCar Series races so far. Italy follows just 13 points behind with a larger gap in front of third placed DE-AT-CH at 1880. Celtic in fourth is tight on their heels with 1825, however. In fifth place lies Benelux with 1636 points. The best US club is currently Plains in seventh with 1262 points. The least amount of points for a club: New Jersey with a grand total of 0.

This week takes the IndyCar Series to the challenging road course of Road Atlanta, where 29 drivers can already complete the eight points weeks of the season – the last time to collect points without dropping lower points scoring weeks, and the last week before drop weeks will have to be considered in the overall standings.

Fastest Qualifying lap of the week:
Max Dell’Orco – 1:43.913

Fastest Time Trial of the week:
Richard Walker – 1:45.140 (four laps)

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