Skip Barber Does Zandvoort

by Tim Dembowski on September 5th, 2010

The iRacing.com Skip Barber Race Series visited its first international venue of 2010 Season Three this past week at the classic Circuit Park Zandvoort. The virtual representation of this world-renowned race track was a favorite for many sim racers, but more so to those who also belonged to European clubs. The enthusiasm for the classic Grand Prix track was shown in the time sheets as Clubs France, England, Benelux, Iberia and DE-AT-CH combined to take the top eight spots in qualifying and would further dominate the online racing throughout the week. Club Northwest’s Duncan Coppedge was the only American to break the international stranglehold and make it into the top 10.

Thomas Arends (Club Benelux) leads the field into Turn One on his way to his seventh win of the week.

Club England’s Richard Towler, currently running second in the iRacing World Championship Road Racing Series, made a surprise visit giving series regulars something to shoot for and rose to the top of the time sheets for a short while. Club France’s Samuel Libeert was up to the challenge though and bested the Club England driver by .011 of a second in qualifying. The battle behind them was equally as close as Thomas Arends of Club Benelux, Jon Tanko of Club Iberia, series points leader Frank Hermann of Club DE-AT-CH and Roland Ehnström of Club Scandinavia rounded out the top six with all drivers being separated by a scant .085 seconds.

When the first of 144 races got underway the international affair continued with Arends taking home a series high seven victories in his nine starts besting some of the top drivers in the series along the way. Towler would prove why he is ranked amongst the best sim racers in the world and took home bragging rights for the week managing a series high 215 points and two wins in his three starts. Series points leader and Club DE-AT-CH’s Frank Hermann had an uncharacteristic week and was only able to muster 135 points allowing his rivals to close the gap ever so slightly in the overall points race. With the series one third of the way home for the season the overall standings are as follows.

Frank Hermann defends against Marcus Jirak as the two fight for position down the front straight.

With four rounds completed we would be remiss not to give credit to the division leaders who have all worked so hard to make it to the top of their respective groups.

In time trials Club France’s Samuel Libeert once again proved he had the Circuit Park Zandvoort figured out and for the first time this season it was someone other than Hermann sitting atop the leader board when the dust settled. Libeert was joined by Jon Tanko who showed very solid pace being the only other driver to post a sub 1:11 second lap average.

We invite you to join us for week five action when the series visits the classic North America venue of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca August 30th-September 6th followed by the series first trip to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course September 6th-13th.