Thrustmaster iRacing Rallycross World Championship Preview: Iowa

The second half of the Thrustmaster iRacing Rallycross World Championship gets going on Saturday at one of iRacing’s original rallycross track designs. The tricky Iowa Speedway layout, which combines Turns 3 and 4 of the NASCAR oval with a complex infield dirt section, will challenge drivers to avoid trouble and find a way to collect as many points as possible to sustain their hopes in the title chase.

Right now, the entire field is chasing SET Esports’ Sami-Matti Trogen, the real-world RX2 driver who took the checkered flag in the season opener from Atlanta. It’ll be a busy weekend for Trogen, who will be racing from South Africa in the final round of his real-world season; he’s brought his wheel and pedals from Finland to Killarney Race Circuit, and the SET Promotion squad will be building him a setup to be able to race from the paddock on Saturday night after the first two rounds of RX2 qualifying during the day. Trogen sits fifth in RX2 points and comes off a third place finish in his most recent event in France, and will be looking to have a banner day in both real and virtual racing.

Behind him, Williams Esports’ Josh Fox sits second in the standings after finally scoring his first podium of 2019 last weekend at ISM Raceway. Sonoma winner Yohann Harth and rookie teammate Jon Robertson fly the ART Subaru Winter Experience banner in third and fourth, while defending iRX champion Mitchell deJong continues his climb back up the standings in fifth. After missing Rounds 3 and 4 at Sonoma and Lucas Oil, deJong picked up where he left off with a win last weekend to become this year’s first repeat winner, and was one of last year’s Iowa race winners.

While the popular Subaru WRX STI comprises a vast majority of the iRX grid, many drivers feel that the Ford Fiesta RS WRC is the most effective car in the field at Iowa. If so, that’s good news for Garrett Lowe, the only driver in this year’s championship to fly the Ford banner. The Loenbro Motorsports driver won the other race here last year and already has one podium under his belt after pressuring Harth for the win at Sonoma.

Thrustmaster iRacing Rallycross World Championship action from Iowa Speedway will stream on Saturday at 2PM ET/11AM PT on the iRacing eSports Network on Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube. The season will continue on November 16 with its second stop at Sonoma Raceway in a five-week span, as Harth will go for the season sweep at the California circuit.

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