Haughton Closes the Gap in Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series with COTA Sweep
February 17th, 2023 by Chris Leone
After a solid debut season in the Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series for 2022, Harley Haughton was one of many top iRacers determined to take home a greater share of Skip Barber Racing School’s prize pool for the 2023 campaign. He got a step closer to grand prize at the end of the season—a full-time ride in the 2023 Skip Barber Formula Race Series—with a sweep of both races at Circuit of the Americas on Thursday night, pulling him within one point of Diogo Pinto for the championship lead with two events left.
The United Kingdom-based Haughton, who races GT5 cars in the real world, was a class above the rest of the field all night on Thursday. He qualified nearly two tenths of a second faster than Przemyslaw Marek Lemanek before the first race and extended his lead to nearly a second before finishing the first lap of the first race. He got even more comfortable in the second race, where a spirited battle for second between Pinto, Lemanek, Josh Thompson, and Michael Janney allowed Haughton to check out and win by 6.701 seconds.
Still, the drama between that quartet produced some of the most exciting racing of the entire season. Almost all race long, they were separated by less than a second, and another pack of five cars came charging in behind them to make for a thrilling final lap. When all was said and done, second through 10th place were separated by under two seconds, and aside from Haughton in first and Brandon Hawkin in ninth, every other top-10 spot changed hands on the final lap.
Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series race one results from Circuit of the Americas were as follows:
Fin. |
St. |
No. |
Driver |
Laps |
Interval |
Led |
Best |
Pts. |
| 1 | 1 | 3 | Harley Haughton | 8 | 8 | 35 | ||
| 2 | 5 | 18 | Diogo C. Pinto | 8 | -2.941 | 0 | 2:06.283 | 32 |
| 3 | 3 | 1 | Michael Janney | 8 | -3.399 | 0 | 2:06.072 | 30 |
| 4 | 6 | 11 | Josh Thompson | 8 | -4.309 | 0 | 2:06.553 | 28 |
| 5 | 4 | 16 | Jakub Maciejewski | 8 | -4.618 | 0 | 26 | |
| 6 | 2 | 6 | Przemyslaw Marek Lemanek | 8 | -5.283 | 0 | 2:06.895 | 25 |
| 7 | 10 | 17 | Josh Poulain | 8 | -5.628 | 0 | 2:06.038 | 24 |
| 8 | 13 | 14 | Brandon Hawkin | 8 | -11.083 | 0 | 2:06.567 | 23 |
| 9 | 15 | 13 | Jordan Johnson5 | 8 | -11.571 | 0 | 2:06.443 | 22 |
| 10 | 7 | 10 | Michael A Romanidis | 8 | -15.013 | 0 | 2:06.589 | 21 |
| 11 | 14 | 8 | Matt Bussa | 8 | -15.410 | 0 | 2:06.533 | 20 |
| 12 | 18 | 2 | Sebastian Wheldon | 8 | -15.635 | 0 | 19 | |
| 13 | 9 | 4 | Simone Passoni | 8 | -16.326 | 0 | 18 | |
| 14 | 16 | 15 | Ross Banfield | 8 | -16.535 | 0 | 2:06.792 | 17 |
| 15 | 12 | 5 | Matt J Caruana | 8 | -21.402 | 0 | 2:06.987 | 16 |
| 16 | 8 | 7 | Johannes Traupe | 8 | -22.278 | 0 | 15 | |
| 17 | 17 | 9 | Matt M Adams | 7 | -1 L | 0 | 2:07.819 | 14 |
| 18 | 11 | 19 | Matthew Zeis | 1 | -7 L | 0 | 13 | |
| 19 | 19 | 226 | Jonathan Winker | 0 | -8 L | 0 | 12 |
Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series race two results from Circuit of the Americas were as follows:
Fin. |
St. |
No. |
Driver |
Laps |
Interval |
Led |
Best |
Pts. |
| 1 | 1 | 3 | Harley Haughton | 8 | 8 | 2:05.991 | 35 | |
| 2 | 4 | 11 | Josh Thompson | 8 | -6.701 | 0 | 2:06.577 | 32 |
| 3 | 3 | 1 | Michael Janney | 8 | -6.893 | 0 | 2:05.805 | 30 |
| 4 | 2 | 18 | Diogo C. Pinto | 8 | -6.938 | 0 | 28 | |
| 5 | 5 | 16 | Jakub Maciejewski | 8 | -7.097 | 0 | 26 | |
| 6 | 6 | 6 | Przemyslaw Marek Lemanek | 8 | -7.709 | 0 | 2:06.331 | 25 |
| 7 | 15 | 5 | Matt J Caruana | 8 | -8.198 | 0 | 2:07.530 | 24 |
| 8 | 10 | 10 | Michael A Romanidis | 8 | -8.295 | 0 | 2:06.290 | 23 |
| 9 | 8 | 14 | Brandon Hawkin | 8 | -8.408 | 0 | 2:05.809 | 22 |
| 10 | 11 | 8 | Matt Bussa | 8 | -8.434 | 0 | 2:06.208 | 21 |
| 11 | 9 | 13 | Jordan Johnson5 | 8 | -13.035 | 0 | 2:06.294 | 20 |
| 12 | 12 | 2 | Sebastian Wheldon | 8 | -14.883 | 0 | 19 | |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | Ross Banfield | 8 | -16.011 | 0 | 2:06.972 | 18 |
| 14 | 17 | 9 | Matt M Adams | 8 | -17.468 | 0 | 17 | |
| 15 | 18 | 19 | Matthew Zeis | 8 | -17.849 | 0 | 16 | |
| 16 | 16 | 7 | Johannes Traupe | 8 | -18.962 | 0 | 15 | |
| 17 | 7 | 17 | Josh Poulain | 8 | -54.071 | 0 | 14 | |
| 18 | 13 | 4 | Simone Passoni | 3 | -5 L | 0 | 13 | |
| 19 | 19 | 226 | Jonathan Winker | 0 | -8 L | 0 | 0 |
Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series points through three events are as follows:
- Diogo Pinto, 192
- Harley Haughton, 191
- Josh Thompson, 164
- Michael Janney, 160
- Brandon Hawkin, 144
- Matt Caruana, 141
- Przemyslaw Marek Lemanek, 118
- Jordan Johnson, 118
- Jakub Maciejewski, 116
- Josh Poulain, 115
Qualifying for next week’s Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series race from VIRginia International Raceway begins today, while registration is open now for the season finale at Road America. All broadcasts will begin at 8PM ET across iRacing social media channels. To sign up to compete, click here.
For more information on the Skip Barber Racing School, visit www.skipbarber.com. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.
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