iRacing Rallycross presented by Yokohama Preview: Sonoma

The second half of the iRacing Rallycross All-Star Invitational and World Championship presented by Yokohama seasons kicks off with a driver favorite track at Sonoma Raceway. Here’s a look at what to watch for from one of the tracks that iRX drivers identify among their favorites:

ALL-STAR INVITATIONAL PREVIEW: Back-to-back wins from Scott Speed have him atop the All-Star standings through the first four rounds, but a pair of confident drives from Kevin Swindell and Conner Martell have established some stiff competition in the series. Add in the returns of action sports legend and multi-time US rally champion Travis Pastrana and FIA World Rallycross superstar Andreas Bakkerud, and this week’s race should be one of the most fun of the year.

Drivers expected to compete in Saturday’s All-Star Invitational include the following:

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW: After a weekend to remember at Hell Lankebanen for SET Esports’ Tommi Hallman, scoring his first career series victory, the iRX World Championship heads to wine country without having seen a repeat winner yet in 2020. Both Hallman and teammate Jonne Ollikainen have taken victories, as have the Team Yokohama pairing of Jon Robertson and Yohann Harth and CR22 Motorsports’ Ilari Lamminsivu. That leaves 23 entries still searching for their first win, with 2018 series champion Mitchell deJong atop that list.

Saturday’s race should look quite different thanks to a rash of penalties carrying over from Hell, so don’t be surprised if some new names find their way to the front of the pack. That could spell good news for drivers like Hansen Williams Esports’ Josh Fox, who scored two runner-up finishes here in 2018.

YOKOHAMA POLE AWARD: For the fourth week in a row, the Yokohama Pole Award went to the eventual winner of the race, this time being Tommi Hallman. The driver who scores the most poles over the course of the season earns a custom trophy presented by Yokohama Tire.

DIRTFISH ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Ilari Lamminsivu made it two-for-two on podium finishes in Hell Lankebanen with a third place finish at the track last week, tops among the four DirtFish Rookie of the Year contenders who made the main. SET Esports’ Jonne Ollikainen still leads the point standings among rookies. The DirtFish Rookie of the Year Award will go to the top point-scorer over the course of the season, and includes a free three-day course at DirtFish Rally School.

MARWIN SPORTS: Subaru Motorsports USA’s Bobby Zalenski and CR22 Motorsports’ Tommi Makinen won the Marwin Sports Last Chance Qualifiers at Iowa, while Hallman earned a race winner’s prize pack from Marwin Sports by virtue of taking the checkered flag.

iRX All-Star Invitational and World Championship presented by Yokohama action kicks off on Saturday, November 7 at 1PM ET (17:00 GMT) on the iRacing Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube pages, as well as across a number of industry and competitor Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube pages. A Finnish-language simulcast will air on YLE Areena and YLE E-urheilu.

The iRacing Rallycross World Championship presented by Yokohama is supported by Yokohama, DirtFish, and Marwin Sports. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

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