Road Warriors at Mid-Ohio
August 19th, 2014 by Jaime Baker
The iRacing Road Warrior Series traveled to the challenging Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio for Round 10. This battle saw the Road Warriors take on the course in the Dallara DW-12 for a 50 lap sprint to the checkers. The high downforce car was on edge the whole way around Mid-Ohio’s off camber sweepers, and crooked crests.
The weekend kicked off at 1:00 GMT Saturday with one large split totaling 37 cars. This made for an interesting race, as there were many different skill sets in the same race. Between aggressive, fast-paced drivers and slower yet more calculated drivers this race was anyone’s to call. The message to heed in this race? Discretion is the better part of valor.
Rob Kodey was victorious after leading only six laps of the online race. He was closely followed by Denis Garese who led 35 laps of the race — but not the one that counted — with Antony Harrison taking the last step on the podium a mere 1.9 seconds behind the leader after 50 laps of intense sim racing. Wayne C Bourke held his starting position to take fourth while Andrey Loginov came from 14th on the grid to round out the top five.
The Saturday 20:00 GMT race was the highest SOF race of the weekend. Again it was another large single split of 36 cars. Julian Rodriguez Moreno won the race in his, typical, dominating fashion. Moreno started from pole, led all 50 laps, and set the fastest lap of the race. Riccardo Schiavon crossed the line eight seconds behind Moreno to claim second place. George Sandman took the last step on the podium and was the only American in the top 10. Ari Härö improved from his tenth place starting position to grab fourth place at the line with Joel Guez rounding-out the top five.
The Sunday 1:00 GMT was the smallest field of the weekend with just 14 cars. The race did, however, boast one of the biggest names in the iRacing Road Warrior series: Aday Coba Lopez. Lopez won the race from pole and led every lap. In second place was prankster and pot-stirrer Naruko Ishida, who set the fastest lap of the race while climbing from tenth at the start. Preston Perlmutter claimed the last spot on the podium while Sergey Pupko Jr improved two spots over his starting spot to finish fourth and Martin Carroll made a run from 11th to claim fifth place.
The final race of the weekend was held at 12:00 GMT Sunday. The 28 car field was led to green by pole sitter Marcus Hamilton who went on to lead all 50 laps of the race and set the fastest lap on his way to the top step of the podium. Paul A Nelson claimed second place, and was the only other car to finish on the lead lap. Anton Volodin started ninth and climbed his way to third place, closing out the podium. Samuel Doecke followed Volodin to the line to take fourth place ahead of Jason Marechal, who made a impressive charge from 21st on the grid to a fifth place finish.
The Road Warrior series goes back into action at the virtual Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway in mid-August. This race will separate the men from the boys in the Monterey Historics race piloting the Lotus 49.