Road to Pro, Week Ten – Part I

July 1st, 2013 by

Plenty of ups and downs are in store for the iGPS competitors at Sonoma.

With three weeks remaining in 2013 S2, the iRacing.com Grand Prix series is shaping up to be a great battle. Unlike last season where the field was set after the 11th week, the points are so close that I believe this season is going to come down to the very last race.

As we sit right now the Magic Number to clinch has gone down from 1870 points to a more realistically obtainable number of 1782. Again this number will continue to shrink as we approach the final week of online racing.

CLINCHED

POS NAME PNTS TWO DROP CLINCH # ELIM
1 Paolo Muià 1842 182 CLINCH CLINCH
2 Robin Friskopps 1790 72 CLINCH CLINCH

Congratulations are in order to Paolo Muià and Robin Friskopps who have clinched their spot into the 2013 iRacing Road Pro series. Now with that said they can focus on the championship. With Robin having the lower drop he has the advantage of trying to pass Paolo. Also Tommy Nilsson is still in the running as he still has weeks to give but because he has missed weeks he has still not mathematically clinched.

ALMOST SAFE

POS NAME PNTS TWO DROP CLINCH # ELIM
3 Michael Gomen 1695 163 250 IN
4 Joonas Nukarinen 1687 39 134 IN
5 Ariel Eduardo Bernardi 1655 144 271 IN

These drivers are looking to clinch this week at Sonoma as they are in great position to lock a spot into the Pro Series.

Michael Gomen needs a win. Although he is in great position when the Magic Number goes down next week.

Joonas Nukarinen only needs 134 points as his drop is very low. A finish of eighth in the same 20 car 4000 Strength of Field can assure his spot in the pro series

Ariel Eduardo Bernardi can not reach the Magic Number this week but with a strong finish at Sonoma the magic number could go down far enough for him to clinch.

AN INTERESTING SITUATION

POS NAME PNTS TWO DROP CLINCH # ELIM
9 Tommy Nilsson 1448 0 334 IN

Nilsson is setup for a very strong run. He has missed a few weeks which is why I am putting him in his own category. If Tommy can finish the season strong, he could win the championship – although he has not really left himself any room for error with his missed weeks. A stumble and he could lose his chance at the championship. Although with his missed weeks, Tommy only needs 296 points to clinch and because he has drop weeks to give, two 150 point weeks and he is in.

ON THE BUBBLE

POS NAME PNTS TWO DROP CLINCH # ELIM
5 Ariel Eduardo Bernardi 1655 144 271 IN
6 Jan Niesiolowski 1575 150 357 IN
7 Michele Mancusi 1569 95 308 IN
8 Lasse Bruun-Hansen 1541 148 389 IN
10 Mikko Meriluoto 1441 123 464 IN

These drivers are on the bubble, but I would say right now the only driver who can catch them is 11th place of Jorge Montanes.   So as of now they are pretty safe, but there are a few drivers outside the top ten with weeks to give so they can be challenged in the final two weeks. Finishing strong here for these drivers is a must to help setup their final two weeks.

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN

POS NAME PNTS TWO DROP CLINCH # ELIM
11 Jorge Montanes 1434 131 479 IN
12 Christiaan Tanahatoe 1366 153 569 IN
13 Matt Hannagan 1259 122 645 IN
14 Hunter Manley 1206 70 646 IN
15 Ryosuke Iwasaki 1198 0 584 IN
24 Muhammed S Patel 899 0 883 IN

These drivers are thereabouts but not quite there yet. Strong weeks will get these drivers into the top ten. Christiaan Tanahatoe, Matt Hannagan, and Hunter Manley all need to have very strong weeks or else they could fall further out of the top ten.

Another interesting note is that Ryosuke Iwasaki and Muhammed S Patel both have weeks to give and could vault up the standings if they have a strong week. Muhammed has only five weeks counted and could shoot up the standings. Muhammed did not participate at VIR so this could have ultimately hurt him. Ryosuke has seven weeks counted, so Sonoma is his final week before drop weeks start counting for him.

LIVING ON A PRAYER

POS NAME PNTS TWO DROP CLINCH # ELIM
16 Justin Lindsay 1193 123 712 IN
17 Anthony Kopec 1139 131 774 IN
18 Paolo Accurso 1128 95 749 IN
19 Frank Levick IV 1075 79 786 IN
20 Daniel Pedrosa 1025 61 818 IN
21 Luis Babboni 1002 101 881 IN
28 Jukka Savolainen 805 0 977 IN
30 Lars Jeppesen 794 0 988 IN
35 Joni Hagner 725 0 1057 IN

These drivers are still mathematically alive but they need strong weeks and the top ten drivers to falter if they are to even have a remote shot of getting in the top ten.

Jukka Savolainen and Joni Hagner both only have five weeks counted so they could make a run and finish in the top ten, but they need to pretty much win-out to even make it close.

ELIMINATED

POS NAME PNTS TWO DROP CLINCH # ELIM
22 Raffaele A Di Palo 906 28 904 ELIM
23 Lee Thompson3 900 29 911 ELIM
25 Cesar Cabral 860 93 1015 ELIM
26 Cleber Alvim Toffoli 817 0 965 ELIM
27 Jamie Burn 810 0 972 ELIM
29 Daniel martin4 797 0 985 ELIM
31 Clayton Macleod 794 0 988 ELIM
32 Harri Anttila 776 0 1006 ELIM
33 Francisco Javier Gutierrez 752 75 1105 ELIM
34 Jarmo Väisänen 752 54 1084 ELIM

These drivers, plus anyone outside the top 35 in points, have been eliminated from obtaining a position in the top ten.

So there you have it, at least the way I see it… good luck to those sim-racers still in the hunt this week at Sonoma.

 

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