Matt Emery hangs on for first Grand Prix Turn Racing iRacing Series win at Jerez

Round two of the 2023 Grand Prix Turn Racing iRacing Series took the 26 top-ranked open wheel racers to its first new venue of the season, the recently released Circuito de Jerez -Ángel Nieto on the Grand Prix layout. After 33 laps around the 15-corner course in the Dallara iR-01, Veloce VEXT rookie Matt Emery was able to hang on for his first career victory in only his second start in the series, holding off veteran competitors in Apex Racing Team’s Michele Costantini and Drago Racing’s Przemyslaw Marek Lemanek for nearly the entire race.

Emery started second on the grid, alongside Wave Italy Racing Team competitor Pablo Espes, who claimed his first career pole position. On the start, Espes was able to clear for the lead by Curva Michelin, but Emery stayed within the draft distance, pouncing to take the lead into Curva Dry Sac on Lap 5.

As Espes began to fade, Lemanek jumped through into second, while Apex Racing Team’s Ben Fuller worked to try and get by for third. On Lap 10, Fuller got tight in Curva Expo ’92 and Altus Engineering’s Carlos Fenollosa had nowhere to go, becoming the only retirement of the race.

While Fuller escaped unscathed, his teammate Costantini was able to make the move safely just before Fenollosa’s incident. By the beginning of Lap 11, Costantini managed to take third and set his sights on the lead duo of Emery and Lemanek.

Unlike last week, where it played out all over the board, pit strategy would be fairly straightforward this week. Emery was the first of the leaders to pit on Lap 14, working the undercut to try and stay ahead of Lemanek and Costantini. That pair would pit the next time by as Emery managed to make it work, cycling back ahead. For the tire strategy, most drivers started on medium compound, yellow-walled tires, and swapped over to the white-walled, hard compound tires.

For the remaining 18 laps, Emery would have to play the best defense he could. While he had the position, the others had the tire advantage by a single lap. Emery would need to manage the hard compound tires and also defend against lunges from the competition.

The Veloce VEXT driver’s defense was stout as he managed to maintain the right lanes into each corner, at times allowing either Lemanek or Costantini alongside but always in the less-preferred groove. Lemanek got as close as anyone, matching Emery’s front wing in Curva Dry Sac before contact forced him off of the podium and out of the conversation. Lemanek recovered to still finish in third.

Costantini took one last look into the sixth corner, the most preferable passing zone through the race, but Emery shut the door. Coming to the line, it was Emery followed by Costantini. Fuller was a corner away from a podium, but contact with VRS driver Edoardo Leo sent him back to finish 11th. Last week’s winner, Florian Lebigre, opted for a much bigger undercut strategy that didn’t end up working out, as he also spun on the final lap out of a points-paying position and finished 17th. Pole sitter Espes set the fastest lap of the race and collected the bonus point.

With Lebigre scoring no points, that hands the points lead over to Costantini with finishes of second this week and seventh at Spa, tied together at 30 points with VRS competitor Marcos Núñez who was third last week and fifth this week at Jerez. Emery jumps to third, tied with Lemanek at 28 points. SDK Gaming’s Gaël Valero falls into fifth in the standings at 27 points following a 10th place finish.

Grand Prix Turn Racing iRacing Series Round 2 results at Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto were as follows:

Grand Prix Turn Racing iRacing Series points through Round 2 are as follows:

1. Marcos Núñez, 30
2. Michele Costantini, 30
3. Matt Emery, 28
4. Przemyslaw Marek Lemanek, 28
5. Gaël Valero, 27
6. Florian Lebigre, 25
7. Daniel Sivi-Szabo, 17
8. David Toth, 16
9. Edoardo Leo, 15
10. Ben Fuller, 14

The next race in the chase for a $25,000 purse comes next Thursday, September 28, with another new wrinkle to the top level open-wheel competition. Oval racing makes its debut with a trip to Texas Motor Speedway, the first of two oval races on the calendar during this season’s 10-race program. All of the action starts at 19:00 GMT (3PM ET) and will stream live across all of the iRacing social media channels.

For more information on the Grand Prix Turn Racing iRacing Series, visit www.iracing.com/irgp. For more information on Turn Racing, visit www.turnracing.com. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

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