Road Warriors Runoff at Laguna Seca

The iRacing Road Warrior Series traveled to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the virtual SCCA Runoffs. Previously the Road Warriors had visited Laguna Seca for the Lotus 49 Historics race; now two weeks prior to the actual SCCA National Championship Runoffs they returned to California with a choice of three cars in the 30 minute multi-class race: Mustang FR500S, Mazda MX-5 Cup Car and SpecRacer Ford.

The first green flag flew at 1:00 GMT Friday, and saw the Mustang of Dylan DeYoung on overall pole position. The first pony car, however, to see the checkered flag was not that of DeYoung, but the Mustang of Jonathan Fuller who led the final seven laps of the 19 lap race. Andrey Loginov was a mere six tenths of a second adrift of Fuller at the line to claim second place overall and in class while DeYoung had to be content with the final podium spot and the knowledge that he set fastest lap of the race. Rob Kodey held his starting spot of fourth at the end of the race ahead of Shawn Noble.

Jonathan Fuller was a big winner at the virtual Runoffs, taking two victories and a podium finish in three tries.

In the MX-5 Cup competition, Aday Coba Lopez sat on pole and took the class win and eighth overall with Steven McGarvy second in class and eleventh overall. Benjamin Lanouette took the final podium spot in the Mazdas and took thirteenth overall after starting fifteenth. Fourth place went to Dries Nys, and fifth to Tom Moreno.

Robin McNicol grabbed the SpecRacer Ford win as well as ninth overall ahead of Eric Winter (second in class and tenth overall after starting in nineteenth). The final spot on the SRF podium went to Chris Seymour, who came home twelfth overall after starting twenty fifth with Samuel Doecke and Scott McGarvey claiming fourth and fifth respectively.

The Saturday 20:00 GMT race saw Fuller lead flag-to-flag in his Mustang for his second overall victory of the weekend. Rob Read took second place three seconds aft of Fuller with Kodey snaggeing the final podium spot overall and in class. Patrice Langlet improved two spots to take fourth place ahead of Matt Richards, who held his grid position to complete the top five.

Callum Hughes took the class win the MX-5s en route to tenth overall. Tim Wick claimed second in class and twelfth overall, while the final podium spot went to Mikael Ås Johannessen who came home fifteenth overall. Vincent Brehm and Tony Mccallum finished-out the top five.

David Barraclough had a fantastic drive to take the Spec Racer win and seventh overall, coming from  23rd overall on the start. Second place in the SRF went to Francisco Esteve who, similarly, charged from 22nd on the grid to finish eighth overall. Andris Slisans took the final podium spot and ninth overall after starting 24th while Thibaut Bentejac and Sean Woodhouse completed the top five.

Barraclough and Esteve arc through Rainey Curve during their epic SRF battle.

The Sunday 1:00 GMT race saw another Iberia club member and Road Warrior front runner Julina Rodriguez Moreno take the overall win in his Mustang. Moreno set the fastest lap of the race and led 11 laps of the race, denying second place finisher Fuller a hat track despite leading eight laps. Liam Hackwith took the final podium spot ahead of Kodey and Darren W Jump.

While that action was unfolding, Dries Nys was motoring to the MX-5 class win and tenth overall, one better on each count than Stephane Gravel who took second in class and eleventh overall. Tony Mccallum captured the final spot on the podium ahead of Justin Brunner and Robert Lacroix.

Chris Seymour took the SRF win over Michael Cleary by the slightest of margins: .008s to be (very) precise. Braden Cohen took home third with Travis Floyd and Olli Kwoka completing the top five.

Fast AND beautiful, the MX-5s of Mccallum and Moreno Sirica negotiate the Corkscrew.

The weekend concluded with Sunday’s 12:00 GMT race with Michael L Willard taking a flag-to-flag win in his Mustang and setting the fastest lap of the race for good measure. Phillip Lewis was a distant second place 32 seconds back of Willard, while Charles Boyd bettered his grid spot by one to take the final podium spot ahead of Hartmut Glöckner.

Craig Williams took the Mazda win, followed by Bradley Fenly in second. Yoan Hlebarov claimed the final step on the podium with Jarett Warren and Timothy Day rounding out the top five.

Finally, Eric Laval took the Spec Racer win and an impressive fifth overall, just two tenths of a second clear of Martin Enzman. Marc Figueras mounted the last step on the podium, albeit a lap down at the finish ahead of Dkay Lee and Casper van Zon.

The next round of the iRacing Road Warrior Series is slated for this coming weekend of September 27th and 28th when the Road Warriors will go into battle with the fearsome Radical SR8 at seriously old school Oulton Park;  old school as in 90 minutes of sim racing on the full “International Circuit” with no chicanes. You read right: no chicanes.  The long back straight should make for some exciting racing going into Knickerbrook at full chat . . .

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