Another new winner in Torres emerges after wild Grand Prix Turn Racing iRacing Series event at Belle Isle

For the first time in series history, the Grand Prix Turn Racing iRacing Series took the 26 best in the Dallara iR-01 street course racing, with 38 laps scheduled at the Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle. As the second half of the season began, the battle for the championship would be expected to become more clear, but once again, a new winner emerged from absolute chaos in the closing laps and created even more intriguing championship and relegation storylines to watch in the final four races of the season.

SDK Gaming’s Manel Cubo Torres was the victor in a last lap pass for the win against BS+ Competition’s Jarl Teien, two drivers that weren’t even in the conversation for the victory until the final five laps of the race. After many laps of uncertainty, Apex Racing Team’s Ben Fuller gave way to Super’s Xavi Ros with four laps to go after hitting the incident limit. Ros then gave way with three laps remaining for the same penalty, handing the race lead to Teien, who started in 10th. Torres bypassed Wave Italy Racing Team’s Pablo Espes and put himself in position for a last lap battle with Teien. Exiting Turn 2 and down the long straight, Torres utilized the draft to slingshot Teien and take the lead and win.

Calamity existed throughout the event. Two-time 2023 winner Florian Lebigre started on the pole position alongside VRS driver Marcos Núñez, but their races would be cut short early after Núñez attempted a pass on Lebigre, overcooked it into the tire barrier, and bounced back into Lebigre’s lane. The two clogged up one of the thinnest sections of the track between Turns 7 and 8. Both Apex Racing Team cars were involved, with Michele Costantini collecting enough damage to retire as Fuller spun but kept all the pieces on the car.

This handed the early lead to Altus Engineering’s Simone Maria Marcenò, on a soft tire strategy off the line. Marcenò built a lead of over four seconds before opting to pit at Lap 11, also scoring the fastest lap of the race and a bonus point on Lap 6. At Belle Isle, the pit strategies were all over the board, with Fuller waiting to pit until Lap 24 and last week’s winner Edoardo Leo waiting even longer, pitting on Lap 27. Points leader Przemyslaw Marek Lemanek undercut Fuller by a lap, but it wasn’t enough to overtake.

Once the field cycled through the pits, the strategies began to converge and things got intense. Fuller had the lead, but with 11 laps to go, he received wing damage in attempting to lap Charlie Sears. The damage ended Sears’ day, but Fuller had to keep going and live with understeer and less downforce for the rest of the laps. First on the scene was Lemanek, who attempted a pass, but he also clipped Fuller and gave himself damage to the wings on the nose. This brought Ros and Leo into the fold, at times the battle going three-wide into the corners. Still, Fuller held on, but his competition was eager to get by him, at times giving him more incident points for contact.

Leo’s day came undone with eight laps to go, where he couldn’t brake enough to avoid the tires in similar fashion to his teammate. This collected Ros, but Ros was able to continue. Espes joined the fight, having gotten around Marcenò earlier in the pit cycle during a battle that gave Marcenò damage and took him out of the conversation. Then it was Espes with the nose damage, but this time, it was a victory snatcher for Fuller, who was black flagged for hitting the incident limit.

Ros was back in the fight and took the lead with his damaged vehicle. Espes and Ros then made contact that sent Ros to the penalty box with too many incidents. In all the commotion, both Teien and Torres, who sat just outside the battle for the lead throughout the day and avoided most of the contact, were both in prime position to capitalize on surviving the day along with Espes. Teien took the white flag, but Torres pounced in one of the final passing zones on the final lap, pulling away far enough to prevent Teien from attacking back, scoring the victory.

Lemanek survived his late damage, as well as some run-ins with some lapped cars, to bring it home in eighth to extend his points lead to 11. Second place now belongs to Teien with his third top five finish in six races. Arnage Competition’s David Toth wound up in 12th and falls to third in the championship, 12 points behind Lemanek. Núñez falls to fourth after his early retirement while Torres leapfrogs into the top five, 30 points behind the lead, after entering the race outside of the top 10. The only multi-time winner, Lebigre, now sits in 11^th. He could bounce right back into the conversation with another good week, but he could also be in trouble when it comes to staving off relegation from the series. It’s still anyone’s guess as to what is in store with four races to go.

Grand Prix Turn Racing iRacing Series Round 6 results at Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle were as follows:

Grand Prix Turn Racing iRacing Series points through Round 6 are as follows:

1. Przemyslaw Marek Lemanek, 83
2. Jarl Teien, 72
3. David Toth, 71
4. Marcos Núñez, 63
5. Manel Cubo Torres, 53
6. Edoardo Leo, 49
7. Pablo Espes, 49
8. Matt Emery, 46
9. Ben Fuller, 46
10. Gaël Valero, 42

Only four races remain in the 2023 Grand Prix Turn Racing iRacing Series season. Next up is another new venue to the series, Fuji International Speedway, a 2.833-mile, 16 corner course located near Mount Fuji in Oyama, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Coverage starts on Thursday, October 26, at 19:00 GMT (3PM ET) and will stream across all 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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