Ward, Volyka Victorious at Zolder

Week Four brought the GRAND-AM iRacing.com Online Sports Car Series to Circuit Zolder, located in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium.  The 2.492 mile (4.011 km) circuit is well known for its three chicanes breaking-up the long straights.  Some drivers love them, some hate them.  In the Prototype class, 189 drivers entered a race, 114 placed a qualifying lap, and 33 completed a time trial.  On the other hand, 279 drivers entered an online race in the McLaren class with 185 placing a qualifying lap and 40 completing a time trial.

With its long straightaways and tight chicanes, Zolder puts a premium on braking.

Riley Mk XX Daytona Prototype

Leading the way this week was David Ward (England), scoring 193 points.  Ward started from the second position, moving to the lead on lap ten.  After the retirement of second place, Ward was on a cruise to the finish bringing home the victory with a margin of 34.635 seconds over second place finisher Mika Lirkki (Finland).  This was the only race which he competed in throughout the week.

Runner up this week was Harald Stadler (DE-AT-CH), scoring 174 points.  Stadler started from the pole position before losing the lead to Stefano Bottarelli on the opening lap.  Pressuring the leader, Stadler was able to regain the lead on lap 10 and led the remainder of the race to bring home the victory over Darryl Sutherland (Ohio) by 1.255 seconds with Bottarelli coming home in third.  Stadler competed in three other races throughout the week, scoring three third place finishes.

Lirkki grabbed the final spot on the podium at Zolder with a score of 173 points.  Starting from the fourth position, Lirkki made a first lap pass on Riccardo Schiavon (Italy) to move into the third position.  The retirement of points leader Richard Kis  (Central Eastern Europe) saw Lirkki move into the second position.  He held his own and brought it home with a comfortable second place finish.  He also competed in three other races throughout the week, scoring two second place finishes and a third.

Rounding out the top ten was Efkan Birkiye (International), Sebastian Cron (DE-AT-CH), Schiavon (Italy), Jonathon Hall (California), Cesc Riu (Iberia), Sutherland and Steve Hobbs (England).

Midway through its first full season of competition, the consensus is the McLaren MP4-12c GT3 is one seriously cool car.

McLaren MP4-12C  GT3

Now for the McLaren, we had Csaba Volyka Jr (Central Eastern Europe) leading the way, scoring 189 points in his only appearance at Zolder.  Volyka started from the pole position and led while trying to avoid the always quick approaching Prototypes.  He encountered no troubles and came home 10.247 seconds to the good of runner-up David Mata (Iberia).

On the second step this week was Luigi Nespolino (Italy), scoring 187 points.  Nespolino started from the pole position and led from green lights to checkered flag, crossing the line 18.412 seconds clear of Bjrn Depuydt (Benelux).  He also competed in one other race throughout the week where he scored a second place finish.

On the final step of the podium this week was sim-racing legend, Norbi Kiss (Central Eastern Europe), scoring 183 points.  In his only race of the week, Kiss started from the pole position, and led from flag-to-flag in dominating fashion to take the win by 30.264 seconds over Mikael Hellén (Scandinavia).

Rounding out the top ten for this week was Anthony Kopec (France), Mata, Depuydt, Jonathan Salhani (Australia/NZ), Hellén, Luis Munoz (Iberia), and Thomas Nanzer (DE-AT-CH).

Conclusion

Next week the iRacing.com GRAND-AM Sports Car Series heads to Brands Hatch, located in Kent, England.  This will be another challenging track for the multi-class series as overtaking opportunities are few and far between on the roller-coaster circuit.  Drivers will have to be patient and always thinking in order to achieve victory.  Be sure to check back next week for updates from Brands Hatch.  Also keep your eyes on inRacingNews.com for updates on other series throughout the service, and many other informational articles of interest to any race fan

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