iRacing Off-Road Championship Series Hits Halfway Point as Liebert, Bergeron Win at Wild Horse

The first half of the 2023 iRacing Off-Road Championship Series is in the books after yet another exciting event of doubleheader action, this time at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. Both of Wednesday night’s winners were familiar faces to the top of the box, as top rookie Jarrett Liebert scored his second win of the year in the first race, and former iRacing World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion Alex Bergeron won at the tight Arizona track for the third time in the past two years.

The two wins came about in very different fashions, though. Liebert’s path to victory started when he outqualified Killian Dall’olmo for the pole by just .043 seconds. The Team Rogue driver quickly put a healthy gap on his Altus Esports rival, pulling a second ahead by the third of 16 laps and maintaining the cushion from there. Dall’olmo remained comfortable in second, while points leader Keaton Swane of Factory Simsport, Bark River winner Joel Blewitt of Team Gold, and Nitro Circus Sim Racing Team’s Josh Edmundson rounded out the top five.

With an eight-truck invert at the front of the field for the second race, the battle up front was much more intense. Williams Esports’ Josh Fox had the benefit of the pole from the invert, but he’d be one of many racers caught up in a series of first-lap incidents. Bergeron and defending champion Connor Barry of Nitro Circus would settle into the top two spots at the end of the lap, but Blewitt and Dall’olmo would catch them; Blewitt would take the lead on Lap 5 as the group raced with their elbows out, but Bergeron would reclaim it for good on Lap 9 and pull away as the others lost ground battling for second. In the end, Dall’olmo and Blewitt would settle into the two podium spots, but Barry’s fourth place would allow him to whittle Swane’s points lead down to two.

iRacing Off-Road Championship Series Round 7 results at Wild Horse Pass were as follows:

1. Jarrett Liebert, 16 laps
2. Killian Dall’olmo, -1.830
3. Keaton Swane, -3.015
4. Joel Blewitt, -3.581
5. Josh Edmundson, -4.397

iRacing Off-Road Championship Series Round 8 results at Wild Horse Pass were as follows:

1. Alex Bergeron, 16 laps
2. Killian Dall’olmo, -1.106
3. Joel Blewitt, -1.710
4. Connor Barry, -2.387
5. Jakob Rafoss, -2.881

iRacing Off-Road Championship Series points through eight of 16 rounds are as follows:

1. Keaton Swane, 359 (2 wins)
2. Connor Barry, 357
3. Joel Blewitt, 348 (1 win)
4. Jarrett Liebert, 345 (2 wins)
5. Josh Edmundson, 282

The All-Star portion of the series wrapped up its Pro 2 Lite portion of the season on Wednesday night with a dozen trucks on the grid. Once again, it was Pro eSports division drivers Luke Knupp and Zachary Drapkin splitting the two victories, with Drapkin’s win locking up both the Pro eSports and overall class titles. Drapkin and Celebrity class champion Nate Stewart joined Knupp on the podium in the first race, while top Celebrity finisher Leo Moura led seven laps to finish second in the second race, with Blake Reynolds rounding out the podium. The All-Stars will begin a new championship next week with the Pro 4 trucks that will go through the remaining five weeks of Off-Road Championship events.

iRacing Off-Road All-Star Pro points are as follows:

1. Zac Drapkin, 397 (4 wins)
2. Blake Reynolds, 375
3. Luke Knupp, 367 (2 wins)

iRacing Off-Road All-Star Celebrity points are as follows:

1. Nate Stewart, 327
2. Mia Rose, 318
3. Keenan Kusan, 316
4. Trever Teal, 306
5. Leo Moura, 300 (1 win)

The 2023 iRacing Off-Road Championship Series takes a week off from points racing next Wednesday, instead bringing the full-powered Pro 2 trucks to Crandon’s short layout for an exhibition event before kicking off the second half of their campaign. Coverage will kick off once again at 8PM ET across iRacing social media channels with the All-Star action, followed by the sim racing pros at 9PM ET.

For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

Images via Justin Melillo

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