Swirydowicz On Top in England

Via leads the 3603 SOF field into the Druids hairpin.

Week Nine brought the iRacing.com Skip Barber Race Series to the grassy hills of Brands Hatch, located in Kent, England.  The “Indy” layout being used is 1.198 miles (1.928 km) and one of the shortest tracks on the schedule.  The pole was won by Nicolas Bihan (Texas) with a blazing fast time of 51.715.  There was surprisingly good participation for this odd track with 803 drivers taking part in a race, 379 in a qualifying session, and 215 completing a time trial.

Wojciech Swirydowicz (Celtic) was on top come weeks end with a brilliant score of 223 points.  Starting from the second position, Swirydowicz settled in for the first half of the race before beginning to apply pressure to leader Jairo Via (Iberia).  On Lap 22 Via made a mistake in Turn One (Paddock Hill Bend), allowing Swirydowicz to get a run down the inside to Turn Two (Druids) successfully taking the lead.  Swirydowicz held on despite the pressure to cross the line 0.246s ahead of Via, scoring the victory in his only race of the week.  Via competed in 25 races this week, hindering his position in the final standings for the week.

Maksym Yefanov (Central Eastern Europe) took the second position with a score of 189 points.  Starting from the fifth position in the 3281 SOF race, Yefanov quickly moved into the third place on the opening lap.  He patiently followed Rudi Reinkort (Central Eastern Europe) until Lap 10 when Reinkort made a mistake and plummeted down the running order.  Yefanov held onto the second position for the remainder of the race, crossing the line 7.347s behind the victorious Via.  Yefanov competed in three other races throughout the week, scoring a win and two more second place finishes.

João Freitas (6), Dawid Hyzy (9), Mike McCormick (7) and Gianmarco Segura (8) attack Graham Hill Bend.

Reinkort (Central Eastern Europe) completed this week’s podium with a close score of 188 points.  Reinkort started from the third position in the Swirydowicz-Via race, making an early mistake resulting in an off-track excursion on Lap Eight.  This caused him to lose the lead draft which he was never able to recover.  At the line Reinkort was 5.423 seconds behind the eventual winner, Swirydowicz.  Reinkort also competed in two other races throughout the week, scoring a victory and a ninth place finish.

Concluding the top ten at Brands Hatch was the Division Two points leader, George Lambert (England) followed by Via, Victor Nandez (Iberia), Ian Bevan (Australia/NZ), Dawid Hyzy (Central Eastern Europe), João Freitas (Iberia) and Timothy Humphrey (Florida).

With Kenneth O’Keefe taking a drop week, Reinkort closed the championship gap to just under 200 points.  Via is 253 points back, followed by Swirydowicz and Nandez.

Next week the iRacing.com Skip Barber Series will head to Road Atlanta in Braselton, GA, USA.  The commonly used “full” circuit will be replaced this week by the “Club” layout which is 1.81 miles (2.91 km) in length with 14 turns.  This track is usually used for drifting but with the danger factor at a minimum racing from the seats of our homes, we can do anything on the iRacing.com simulator.  Only time will tell how the sim-racing will be at this track.  Be sure to check back next week for reports from Road Atlanta.

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