Bobby Zalenski doubles up, wins in eNASCAR’s first trip to Monza

April 12th, 2023 by

History was made on Tuesday night as the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series made its first trip to the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, the fifth race of the 2023 season. It’s been two full seasons since Bobby Zalenski’s been a winner at any road course, but in the series’ inaugural Monza visit, Zalenski was untouchable, leading all 30 laps from the pole position en route to his second victory in a row on the year.

Once again, Zalenski lined up his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota alongside 23XI’s Keegan Leahy on the front row. In the 30-lap event, there would be no cautions to contend with, so minimizing mistakes would be crucial. Zalenski made zero mistakes. He pulled away early from Leahy and the rest of the field, waited as long as possible to pit, executed a perfect pit cycle and maintained the gap through every lap. Smiling and pinching his fingers, Italian-style, as he took his final trip through the Parabolica, Zalenski found himself once again in the virtual winner’s circle for the 13th time in his eNASCAR career, now in sole possession of fifth all-time on the eNASCAR wins list. Through five races in the 2023 season, Zalenski is the only driver so far with multiple victories.

Leahy eventually relinquished second place to Daytona winner Tucker Minter. Both Minter and his Team Dillon eSports’ teammate, Jordy Lopez, had immense pace throughout the night. Minter wound up finishing in second with Leahy in third and Lopez in fifth. The defending series champion, Casey Kirwan, had a big mistake early as he grabbed too much of the curb in Ascari, spinning around from fourth place to just outside the top 10. Kirwan would fight back, ultimately returning to where he once was to finish in fourth.

The opening lap was a big unknown as 39 stock cars barreled through where the Rettifilo chicane would normally be. With the two slowest chicanes excluded in this variant of the Monza Circuit, the first corner they would enter would be the Curva Grande. A grande wreck was indeed on the menu in the middle of the pack. Drivers such as the Rise eSports’ duo of Jimmy Mullis and Zack Novak would be collected in the mess, as would the eRacr duo of Collin Bowden and Kollin Keister. Perhaps the biggest damage in the incident went to Williams eSports’ Vicente Salas, who creamed the tire barrier after a slide through the gravel pit. Keister would also retire early on, but the rest would continue.

While Zalenski kept things under control up front, the battles in the midfield were intense. Jim Beaver eSports’ Garrett Lowe found himself in a battle with Tony Kanaan Esports driver Parker White as they tried to get past the Charlotte Phoenix entry of Graham Bowlin. They went three wide momentarily, but eventually Lowe found himself sliding through the gravel in Ascari. The battle of the Michaels was a little cleaner as JR Motorsports driver Michael Conti was able to hold off a charge from Front Row Motorsports’ Michael Cosey Jr.

Unfortunately, that battle wasn’t for a Top 10, but it did enable Conti to take a share of the points lead, tied together with Bowlin at 145 points. They both lead Zalenski by a single point leaving Monza, despite his two victories so far.

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series results from Autodromo Nazionale Monza were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Name

Team

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

Pts
1 1 18 Bobby Zalenski Joe Gibbs Racing 30 0.000 30 1:33.122 40
2 3 33 Tucker Minter Team Dillon eSports 30 -3.616 0 1:33.318 35
3 2 23 Keegan Leahy 23XI 30 -4.447 0 1:33.299 34
4 4 95 Casey Kirwan XSET 30 -10.826 0 1:33.212 33
5 5 3 Jordy Lopez Jr Team Dillon eSports 30 -11.343 0 1:33.536 32
6 7 48 Graham A. Bowlin Charlotte Phoenix 30 -12.733 0 1:33.359 31
7 11 11 Parker White Tony Kanaan Esports 30 -13.105 0 1:33.450 30
8 15 12 Garrett Manes fgrAccel 30 -13.229 0 1:33.245 29
9 9 10 Steven Wilson Stewart-Haas Racing 30 -13.746 0 1:33.481 28
10 13 40 Dylan Ault LETARTE eSports 30 -17.248 0 1:33.622 27
11 6 8 Michael Conti JR Motorsports 30 -18.706 0 1:33.581 26
12 19 38 Michael Cosey Jr Front Row Motorsports 30 -19.097 0 1:33.464 25
13 17 7 Malik Ray Jim Beaver eSports 30 -21.510 0 1:33.816 24
14 14 88 Kevin King JR Motorsports 30 -22.001 0 1:33.663 23
15 12 6 Timmy Holmes RFK Racing 30 -23.965 0 1:33.655 22
16 16 97 Matt Bussa William Byron eSports 30 -26.474 0 1:33.971 21
17 21 2 Corey Vincent Pittsburgh Knights 30 -27.002 0 1:33.876 20
18 22 51 Donovan Strauss Williams eSports 30 -28.488 0 1:33.756 19
19 23 25 Nick Ottinger William Byron eSports 30 -28.900 0 1:33.812 18
20 20 46 Jimmy Mullis Rise eSports 30 -30.211 0 1:33.805 17
21 27 41 Dylan Duval Stewart-Haas Racing 30 -31.799 0 1:33.706 16
22 8 15 Garrett Lowe Jim Beaver eSports 30 -35.101 0 1:33.773 15
23 33 54 Daniel Faulkingham Joe Gibbs Racing 30 -36.285 0 1:34.089 14
24 10 27 Cody Byus Elliott Sadler eSports 30 -39.250 0 1:33.717 13
25 18 34 Allen Boes Front Row Motorsports 30 -42.481 0 1:33.697 12
26 28 66 Tyler Garey Tony Kanaan Esports 30 -43.144 0 1:34.087 11
27 29 75 Zack Novak Rise eSports 30 -43.581 0 1:33.700 10
28 24 14 Joey Brown fgrAccel 30 -44.289 0 1:33.867 9
29 26 20 Wyatt Tinsley Kansas City Pioneers 30 -45.032 0 1:34.194 8
30 31 77 Ryan Doucette Pittsburgh Knights 30 -45.139 0 1:33.902 7
31 34 4 Ryan Luza XSET 30 -48.501 0 1:33.603 6
32 36 17 Kaden Honeycutt RFK Racing 30 -53.297 0 1:34.456 5
33 39 45 Michael Guest 23XI 30 -55.427 0 1:34.256 4
34 25 43 Femi Olatunbosun Charlotte Phoenix 30 -56.152 0 1:33.902 3
35 32 36 Brandon McKissic LETARTE eSports 30 -1:03.523 0 1:34.329 2
36 38 31 Derek Justis Kansas City Pioneers 30 -1:10.245 0 1:34.602 1
37 35 69 Collin Bowden eRacr 29 DNF 0 1:34.269 1
38 37 42 Kollin Keister eRacr 1 -29L 0 ——— 1
39 30 55 Vicente Salas Williams eSports 1 -29L 0 ——— 1

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series points through five rounds are as follows:

  1. Michael Conti, 145, 1 win
  2. Graham Bowlin, 145
  3. Bobby Zalenski, 144, 2 wins
  4. Tucker Minter, 140, 1 win
  5. Nick Ottinger, 140
  6. Michael Cosey Jr., 134
  7. Keegan Leahy, 127
  8. Jordy Lopez Jr., 119
  9. Casey Kirwan, 118
  10. Parker White, 107

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will have a short turnaround between the next race on the 2023 schedule, but for the first time in series’ history, it will be a race where all 40 drivers have the same fixed setup. Talladega Superspeedway’s race coverage will start on Tuesday, April 18 at 9 p.m. ET at eNASCAR.com/live. The Countdown to Green will kick the superspeedway racing festivities off at 8:30 p.m. ET as usual.

For more information on the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, visit www.enascar.com or www.iracing.com/enascar. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

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