Caruana, Miranda win by inches in Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series races at Road America
August 9th, 2024 by Justin Melillo
For a third straight event in the 2024 Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series, Victor Miranda was one of the two winners on the night, this time at Road America. The 4.04-mile road course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin provided long, drafty straightaways combined with some sharp, technical corners, a perfect recipe for two of the closest finishes of the season and of all-time in series history.
Matt J Caruana was able to hold on for the first victory on the night, but in the second, he barely missed out on the sweep as Miranda captured a third win on the season, extending his points lead to 28 with two events remaining.
RACE #1
It was a clean start for the leaders, mostly. COTA-winner Kody Deith cleared for the lead while Miranda looked to get around the other winner from last week, Ivan Machado. Unfortunately, Machado and Miranda made contact exiting Turn 3, spinning the former around and into the final position early on. Up front, Caruana took back control as he and Deith pulled away from the field.
Miranda wound up falling back to fourth, losing the podium to Leo Ovtcharov more than a second-and-a-half behind the battle for the win. Deith gave a few lunges on the final lap, setting up for a drag race to the checkers. Caruana was able to get his nose just ahead for his first win of the season, winning by a 0.017-second margin of victory. Machado, meanwhile, recovered to finish 14th.
Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series Race #5 at Road America – Top 10 Results:
| Fin. | St. | No. | Driver | Interval | Country | Pts. |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | Matt J Caruana | 0.000 | Great Britain | 35 |
| 2 | 2 | 12 | Kody Deith | +0.017 | Australia | 32 |
| 3 | 6 | 2 | Leo Ovtcharov | +1.735 | United States | 30 |
| 4 | 4 | 9 | Victor Miranda | +1.970 | Brazil | 28 |
| 5 | 10 | 8 | Shoma Shintani | +4.907 | Japan | 26 |
| 6 | 8 | 7 | Mitchell Ian Greene | +9.019 | United States | 25 |
| 7 | 7 | 3 | Ayden Young | +9.077 | United States | 24 |
| 8 | 12 | 18 | Andrew Moran | +9.838 | United States | 23 |
| 9 | 14 | 11 | Cade Middleton | +10.007 | United States | 22 |
| 10 | 9 | 4 | Byron Mitchell | +14.578 | South Africa | 21 |
RACE #2
In the second battle of the night, the leaders weren’t able to pull away as easily as they were in the first race. This time, Miranda was up on it, taking the lead on the third lap after getting around Ovtcharov on the opening lap, Deith on Lap 2, and Caruana before entering Turn 1.
With the two leaders trading the lead over and over, it kept the field in play through all seven laps. The two had split the laps led through six, and on the final lap, it all came down to who put themself in the right position for another drag race to the line. Miranda exited the 14th and final corner with the lead, but Caruana was right in the slipstream. The two went side-by-side at the line, but it was Miranda who was able to hold on.
Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series Race #6 at Road America – Top 10 Results:
| Fin. | St. | No. | Driver | Interval | Country | Pts. |
| 1 | 4 | 9 | Victor Miranda | 0.000 | Brazil | 35 |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | Matt J Caruana | +0.021 | Great Britain | 32 |
| 3 | 2 | 12 | Kody Deith | +0.222 | Australia | 30 |
| 4 | 3 | 2 | Leo Ovtcharov | +0.601 | United States | 28 |
| 5 | 5 | 8 | Shoma Shintani | +0.653 | Japan | 26 |
| 6 | 7 | 3 | Ayden Young | +0.978 | United States | 25 |
| 7 | 16 | 6 | Matt Bussa | +1.269 | United States | 24 |
| 8 | 14 | 5 | Ivan Machado Perez | +2.375 | Spain | 23 |
| 9 | 13 | 13 | Ross Banfield | +3.845 | United States | 22 |
| 10 | 19 | 16 | Matt M Adams | +9.480 | Canada | 21 |
Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series points through races #5 and #6 at Road America:
- Victor Miranda, 197
- Ivan Machado Perez, 169
- Kody Deith, 148
- Matt Bussa, 139
- Ayden Young, 138
- Leo Ovtcharov, 134
- Byron Mitchell, 132
- Andrew Moran, 115
- Shoma Shintani, 108
- Matt J Caruana, 105
Through six races, Victor Miranda has half of the victories and no finish worse than fourth place. Ivan Machado, his main rival in the championship thus far, had his worst outing of the year to date, but remains in second following a recovery to finish eighth in the second race.
Kody Deith jumps back up to third after a pair of podium finishes at Road America. That slots Matt Bussa down in fourth, a point ahead of Ayden Young in fifth.
Next Race: Following Road America, the fourth race of the 2024 season will take place at Lime Rock Park next week. This Hot Lap Qualifier is active from Friday, August 9th, at 12 a.m. ET to Sunday, August 11th at 11:59 p.m. ET.
The entry fee for each Hot Lap Qualifier is $20, and the top 20 drivers on the Time Attack leaderboard will be invited to run each race. They’ll also get to take part in an open test with Skip Barber Racing School instructors on hand to provide feedback.
The race itself is scheduled for next Thursday, August 15th, once again at 7 p.m. ET. It will be live on iRacing.com/live and across all of iRacing’s social media channels.
To learn more about the Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series, visit https://www.skipbarber.com/iracing-series/.
Drivers can register to compete in 2024 Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series events here.
For more information about iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.
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