Slipping into Darkness

For the tenth week in the Thrustmaster Mustang Challenge the sim racers from all around the globe took on the 17-turn, 3.7-mile Sebring International Raceway located in Sebring, Florida for some night racing for the first time in series history.  During the week a total of 301 drivers attempted to tame the beast known as Sebring, but it was Giorgos Tzanetos (International) who slipped away into the darkness by scoring the most points for Week Ten.

Sebring after dark offered a dramatic setting for the Thrustmaster Mustang Challenge.

Weekly High Strength of Field
Tzanetos was the man to beat during Week Ten as he claimed the victory in the week’s highest Strength of Field (SoF) event.  The 3448 saw Tzanetos leading all 14 of the events laps, but it wasn’t an easy victory as he beat second place Dave Gelink (Benelux) by a mere 0.823s.  The final podium spot belonged to Ohio native Brian Strodtbeck followed by Franchmen Evan Maillard and Florian Denard.

Following Tzanetos’ successful week of online racing, I was able to get his perspective on the car and track:

“I love the feeling of the car because it is difficult to drive at the limit and I have fun with the great competition.”

Weekly Standings
By earning the victory in the week’s highest SoF event, Tzanetos also emerged as the top championship point earner for the week, accumulating 215 for his efforts.  Second place for the week belongs to Gelink followed by Maillard in third.  Fourth and fifth places for the week belong to Denard and Strodtbeck.

Tzanetos was the man to beat at Sebring.

Season Standings
After ten weeks of racing, Gelink still holds a commanding lead in the season-long championship point standings over second place, Balazs Mihaly (Central-Eastern Europe).  Third place is currently held by Kris Tarrant (Australia/NZ) followed by Brett McBurnie (Australia/NZ) and Mikey Grems (New York) in positions four and five.

Weekly Qualifying
Jon Tanko (Iberia) was Mr. Qualifying for Week Ten as he laid down the quickest time of anybody who attempted a lap.  Tanko’s time of 2:21.698 was almost a full two-tenths of a second faster than Gelink who finished the week second overall.  As well as being fast in race-pace, Tzanetos was also very fast in qualifying-mode, turning in the third fastest time for the week.  Laszlo Kotrocz (England) and Maillard ended their weeks in the fourth and fifth positions for Week Ten qualifying.

More than 300 iRacers put their Mustang FR500S through their paces at Sebring.

Weekly Time Trial
To complete a superb week, Tzanetos also was the time trial king during Week Ten.  His four-lap average was over a half-second faster than any other driver who attempted to run during the seven days.  Tarrant ended the week in second followed by Strodtbeck, Oscar Sahlin (Scandinavia) and Andreas Wagner (DE-AT-CH) who finished in the fifth position.

Please check back next week as the Thrustmaster Mustang Challenge heads back to the southern United States for some action at Road Atlanta.  As always, be sure to visit www.iracing.com to become part of the largest motorsports simulation community and www.thrustmaster.com for information on top-of-the-line equipment for both PC and console gaming.

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