- iRacing.com Announces iRacing 2.020,144
- Dave Kaemmer Comes Clean on Dirt13,043
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- Towler, Wood Suspended from Upcoming iWCRR Events 67
- Dave Kaemmer Comes Clean on Dirt 44
- iRacing.com Announces iRacing 2.0 41
- The iRacing.com Protest System - May, 2012 33
- Bathurst Coming to iRacing! 30
- SFI Decertifies All Impact Racing Products 28
- iRacing's Corvette: Good Enough is Not Good Enough 23
- Scanning What’s in Store for iRacing with Tony Gardner 22
- iRacing.com Announces Further Plans to Increase Race Participation and Size of Race Fields 21
- iRacing Simulation Gives NASCAR Hall of Fame Guests Authentic Driving Experience 17
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David Phillips
Editor and ChiefDavid 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 WriterChris 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 Writer19 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 WriterJason 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 WriterI 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 WriterI 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 WriterI 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 WriterNathan'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 WriterBorn 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 WriterJordan 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 WriterBorn 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 WriterKenneth 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 WriterI 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 WriterAfter 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.
Luis One Step Closer To World Title
by Chris Hall on September 12th, 2011
In an action packed 47 laps of the 4.048 mile virtual Road America, Hugo Luis held off a spirited attack in the closing minutes to seal his fourth win of the iRacing.com Nvidia Grand Prix Series and further increase his lead in the World Championship standings.
As the green flag dropped, Luis made the jump on Greger Huttu, who saw his pole-position immediately evaporate as he struggled to get traction off the line; and by the time the current Champion reached Turn One, he was surrounded by a swarm of My3id FW31s. Whilst Luis sailed off into the distance, the sister cars of Klaus Kivekas, Jesse Nieminen and then David Williams pushed Huttu down to fifth spot with passes at the opening bends and Turn-Five, where the Team Redline pilot struggled for control over the bumps.
Fortunately for Huttu, within three laps of the start, Nieminen dropped out of the top-twenty, following a collision with the outside wall of Turn-six, but the Finn continued to lose time on the leader, as My3id’s Williams used all his guile to keep him at bay for the benefit of Luis and Kivekas ahead. By the time of lap six, Huttu had carved a way past Williams on the inside of Turn-Five, and was looking to close the gap on Kivekas over five-seconds ahead.
When Luis headed to pit-lane for his first scheduled stop, his lead over second position was just over two-seconds, with Huttu a further six back; but just when it looked like a My3id fight for the win, Kivekas saw his Championship hopes fade when a hand cramp lead to his ultimate retirement a few laps after his pit-stop. “I got a cramp in my left hand all of a sudden and had to drive one-handed while trying to stand the pain at the same time.” Kivekas shared with inRacingNews. “I managed a few laps and then went to the wall. Can’t remember when I last had a cramp or anything like that, nice timing for it to happen. I didn’t even feel like I was gripping the wheel any differently than in any other race.”
Electing to short-fuel for his middle-stint, Huttu was just a half-second from the gearbox of Luis by the time he headed to pit-lane for the final time on lap 34; but with an extra lap in his pocket and a textbook service, the Brazilian maintained his position and extended his lead to three-seconds by the time he rejoined the circuit following his second stop. From here, it was a question of whether Luis could hold off Huttu for the remaining 12 circuits, as the gap between them narrowed over successive laps, until 1.5 seconds separated the pair. Unperturbed by the approaching World Champion, Luis kept to his lines to claim is fourth win of the iRacing.com Nvidia Grand Prix Series by a margin of a second.
“The start of the race was way, way better than what I’ve expected.” Luis wrote this week. “I had a good launch while Greger didn’t had a good one, so I was able to lead the race in Turn-One. I noticed this could be my shot for the win if I didn’t overdrive, and chose to manage the lead instead of pushing.
“Greger had a one-lap longer first stint, so I noticed things would get complicated for me. I was not taking any risks with the margin I had and he was on a short, aggressive stint. Before I knew it he was all over my rear. Last stint I had to hurry up, because the win wasn’t looking so secure by then. Anyway, things went well and I could take the victory.”
Dropping points on the Championship leader, Huttu was ruing what might have been by the time the Road America dust had settled. “I pushed hard on the last stint but it wasn’t quite enough and I finished one second behind.” Team Redline’s principal driver offered post race. “The bad starts have cost me quite a lot this season but I would have still had a great chance to get the win without the lock-up in Turn-Five on the first lap. I also would have liked to have gotten better results from this and the previous race because I don’t think the next tracks will work so well for us. Well, hopefully we’ll find something extra for Okayama and go from there to Suzuka which should be fun. ”
Behind the main Championship protagonists, Pro-licensed Jake Stergios claimed a hard fought podium spot, which keeps his hopes of a finish in the top twenty-five of the season standings and subsequent assurance of a World Championship license for 2012. The independent online-racer secured his best finish of the season, after starting thirteenth on the grid and watching the cars ahead of him fall off the track like ten-pins. “Wow. I still can’t believe I got third.” explained the American post race. “My strategy for this one was just to survive and not take any unnecessary risks. Once it started to settle down I was in the top 10 and just riding, but people kept crashing and I kept gaining positions. I leapfrogged Alberto Baraldi in the pits on my first stop because I went one lap longer than he did, which put me in fifth. I then passed Aleksi Elomaa in Turn-One and passed Klaus after he crashed due to his hand cramp and suddenly I found myself in third.”
Similarly, Richard Towler ended Round 15 of the iRacing.com Nvidia Grand Prix Series in fourth position, his best finish of the season, despite struggling with an ill-handling Williams-Toyota F1 car; quite a contrast from 2010 when the Englishman was chasing Huttu all the way to the Championship title. “That was fun, I had a great brawl with a random Italian and Dom Duhan.” the 2010 NASCAR iRacing.com Champion enthused. “I had a random bounce which put me into a half spin and my car bottomed out on low fuel, but I managed to bring it home in fourth for my best result of the season. The car drove horrible at this track, curbs, bumps were a nightmare and the second to last corner felt really well, wrong.”
By driving within his limits and playing out a long game in the 47 lap race, Alberto Baraldi claimed his first top-five finish of the season, enough to keep his bid of a top-ten finish in the World Championship, firmly on track. As he watched the likes of Ben Cornett, Aleksi Elomaa, Atze Kerkhof, Nieminen and Kivekas fall by the wayside, the Italian progressed his way up the order to finish twelve-seconds behind Towler. “Finally a good result after almost two-months of bad luck, it was getting frustrating.” the Twister Racing Team sim-racer affirmed this weekend. “I feel I deserved a top five at this time of the season and I’m glad it came, even if I didn’t have the pace of most of my other races.”
In only his second appearance in the iRacing.com Nvidia Grand Prix Series, Jeremy Bouteloup stood out as a name to watch out for in the future, after the Frenchman secured sixth spot ahead of Petteri Kotovaara, who amazingly finished in the top-ten from his start position of twenty-seventh. Bouncing back from a collision with the wall early in the race, which resulted in a drop to twenty-third place, Nieminen clawed his way back through the field to claim eighth position a couple of seconds ahead of Derek Wood, who bested Dion Vergers to the chequered flag.
With three rounds of the iRacing.com Nvidia Grand Prix Series remaining, My3id’s Hugo Luis holds a 55 point advantage over Greger Huttu in the Championship standings. With Huttu registering 14 rounds as opposed to Luis’ fifteen, the fight for the 2011 title looks set to come down to the wire and dropped weeks. Will Huttu struggle in the closing stages as he predicts? Or is the Champion playing a mind game on the leading Brazilian? Find out in two-weeks time when the Championship heads for it’s first ever visit to Okayama International.
