Machado, Miranda earn Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series wins at Virginia International Raceway (Grand)

August 2nd, 2024 by

The second round of the 2024 Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series took to the Grand Course at Virginia International Raceway on Thursday night. Just as it was in the first week of competition, two drivers split the victories in the 15-minute features. Ivan Machado took the first one from pole position, but in the second, a slight slip up allowed for Victor Miranda to grab his second win of the season.

The first of two visits to the Virginia road course, the Grand Course is the longer version, encompassing a section inside the track for a total length of 4.07-miles. The 13th corner, which took competitors into the esses inside the course, proved to be a real… challenge, as both races would ultimately be decided there on the final laps.

RACE #1

Machado led the field to the green flag alongside Felipe Cabrera. Miranda took off from the third position, but by the first corner, Machado and Miranda had cleared into the top-two positions. Behind them, the field began to thin out, with hopefuls such as Kody Deith and Leo Ovtcharov colliding before the end of the first lap. Cabrera tried to get back by Miranda as well, but also slid off and down the running order.

That set up for a two-horse race to the finish. Machado had it, but Miranda was stalking. On the final lap, Miranda made a dive on the outside of Machado into Turn 13. He couldn’t quite make it work, and wound up losing multiple seconds in the process. Miranda still held on to finish in second, but Machado pulled away for his first win on the year.

Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series Race #3 at VIR (Grand Course) – Top 10 Results:

Fin. St. No. Driver Interval Country Pts.
1 1 1 Ivan Machado Perez 0.000 Spain 35
2 3 2 Victor Miranda +2.197 Brazil 32
3 6 13 Byron Mitchell +5.977 South Africa 30
4 7 10 Michael Polasek +7.823 United States 28
5 17 14 Shoma Shintani +11.435 Japan 26
6 2 17 Felipe Cabrera Loyola +12.694 Chile 25
7 19 7 Andrew Moran +13.258 United States 24
8 11 18 Matt Bussa +13.523 United States 23
9 20 8 Matt M Adams +13.673 Canada 22
10 18 19 Jeffrey Decker +13.770 United States 21

RACE #2

Virginia’s second verse was similar to the first with a twist ending, as Machado and Miranda were able to pull ahead of the field once more. The two left the rest to fight for third again, which belonged to Byron Mitchell in the first race, but was contested by Shoma Shintani in the second.

Shintani ultimately got the better of Mitchell, but up front, another fight was on between Machado and Miranda. Miranda kept testing the waters, mostly into the 13th corner, but could never get it to work. On the final lap, Machado slipped, his one and only mistake of the night. Drifting into 13, Machado nearly slid into Miranda. Miranda caught it and countered with a crossover, taking the lead enroute to victory lane.

Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series Race #4 at VIR (Grand Course) – Top 10 Results:

Fin. St. No. Driver Interval Country Pts.
1 2 2 Victor Miranda 0.000 Brazil 35
2 1 1 Ivan Machado Perez +0.441 Spain 32
3 5 14 Shoma Shintani +2.979 Japan 30
4 3 13 Byron Mitchell +3.175 South Africa 28
5 19 16 Matt J Caruana +5.070 Great Britain 26
6 8 18 Matt Bussa +9.926 United States 25
7 6 17 Felipe Cabrera Loyola +10.882 Chile 24
8 11 15 Cade Middleton +11.125 United States 23
9 17 11 Ross Banfield +11.502 United States 22
10 16 5 Leo Ovtcharov +11.751 United States 21

Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series points through races #3 and #4 at VIR (Grand Course):

  1. Victor Miranda, 134
  2. Ivan Machado Perez, 129
  3. Matt Bussa, 100
  4. Felipe Cabrera Loyola, 97
  5. Byron Mitchell, 95
  6. Ayden Young, 89
  7. Kody Deith, 86
  8. Leo Ovtcharov, 76
  9. Shannon K Morris, 75
  10. Andrew Moran, 74

Through four races, Victor Miranda has finished no worse than second, sharing wins with Ivan Machado this week and Kody Deith two weeks ago at Circuit of the Americas. Machado sits five points behind Miranda for the top spot, and while that battle may turn epic in the final three events, the battle for third is even closer. Matt Bussa, who scored a pair of top-10 finishes at Virginia, moves into third by three points over Felipe Cabrera. Byron Mitchell jumps to fifth while Deith slips from second to seventh.

Next Race: Following the Grand Course at Virginia International Raceway, the third race of the 2024 season will take place at Road America. This Hot Lap Qualifier is active from Friday, August 2nd, at 12 a.m. ET to Sunday, August 4th 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 8th, 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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