Caddy Title Contenders Show Their Hands

Round Ten of the iRacing.com Cadillac Cup saw the series return to Monterey, California where the drivers and teams tackled fabled Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, with its 11 turns and the famous CorkScrew.  540 drivers turned up to do a race this week, with 131 of them also turning a lap in qualifying and 105 sim-racers also competing in the time trail competition.

Qualifying Top 10
Dylan Sharman topped this week’s qualifying sheet with a 1:21.999 while Nathan Moore jumped into second place late in the week with a 1:22.361, ahead of Jan-Paul Niehuis and James A Cullen, while Andre Paulo snagged fifth fastest time. Carlos Reyes Aiguadé was the sixth quickest qualifier just ahead of Ken Leach, Fabian Ventura and Jonathan Holz with Jean Pierre the first driver in the 23s (just) with a 1:23.004.

Sharman and Moore lead Friday’s SoF field to the green flag.

SOF Race of the Week
This week’s highest SOF (3414) started at 22:30 GMT on Friday night and attracted 26, resulting in two splits of 13.  Sharman would led his split flag to flag to take the victory over Leach, who came home just four seconds behind the lead Cadillac CTS-V.  Similarly, Matt Wine finished in third place just ahead of Robert Ganley, while Richard Mason drove a great race to come from dead last to finish fifth.  Ventura finished in sixth just ahead of Guillem F Antunez Saurat with Jose Telmo back behind in eighth place, one better than Paul Langford.  Aurelio Leonetti finished a lap down in tenth after getting collected in another competitor’s accident, with Thomas Gibson also a lap in arrears in 11th and Maumau Buell three laps down in 12th place.  The race’s only DNF was registered by Moore, who blew his engine on Lap Three after downshifting a little too fiercely while holding-down second place.

Top 10 Point Scorers for the Week
The SOF win enabled Sharman to bring home the most points (210) from Laguna Seca, with Cullen earning 194 points for his win in Monday’s race and now making a charge for the Division 2 title and third place overall.  With his second place on Friday night, Leach garnered third most points with 192 points, while Moore rebounded from Friday’s DNF to finish with the fourth most points for the week (179).   Wine finished the week four points behind Moore, while Ventura also finished four points back from Wine with 171.  Niehuis managed to score 164 points while another contender for the Division 2 title, Ganley scored 157 with Jens Christoffersen and Richard Sobolewski rounding-out the top 10 points getters for the week.

Caddys with a twist: Sharman leads Moore and Leach through the Corkscrew on the opening lap.

Championship Standings – Top 3 Divisions
Division 1 – Sharman leads with 1536, 125 points ahead Moore (1411) with Pierre in third at 1145.
Division 2 – Ventura leads with 1112 ahead of Telmo’s 1047 while Ganley (1045) is only two points back.  Fourth placed Fedorov still has a good chance but the one to watch is Cullen back in seventh with two weeks to go, only 230 points out of the lead.
Division 3 – Niehuis has all but secured the division title with 1144 points ahead of Pedro Manuel (982) and Thiago Sanson holding onto third with 770.

Time Trial Standings – Overall Top 5
Sharman leads with a flawless 800 points from eight rounds while Manuel is holding onto second with 788.   Laguna Seca saw Paulo Franco increase his lead over Jonathan Holz to nine points while Wine has moved into fifth place with 754 points and is catching Holz and Franco with two rounds to go.

Round 11 takes the iRacing.com Cadillac Cup to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Good luck to all the drivers for the week and hope to see you on all Friday and Saturday nights at 22:30 GMT.  Visit theforum for more details.

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