Wheldon, Romanidis Split Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series Wins at VIR; Pinto, Haughton Set For Title Showdown

Sebastian Wheldon led a majority of the laps on the night, but he’d have to settle for a split with Michael Romanidis in the two Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series rounds from VIRginia International Raceway on Thursday night. Wheldon would hang on for the final five laps of the initial nine-lap race despite heavy pressure from most of the front runners, while Romanidis would lead just one lap—the most important one—in the second race to split the victories.

Both races were decided by just a fraction of a second. Wheldon’s margin of victory in the first race was just .129 seconds on Romanidis, who would take advantage of a last-lap off-track excursion for Josh Thompson as the top four were split by under a second for almost the entire race. Matthew Zeis would complete the second-closest podium of the season at .321 seconds off the lead—just four one-thousandths of a second larger than the spread at Road Atlanta, where Diogo Pinto beat Oscar Mangan and William Chadwick to the finish.

The second race, meanwhile, saw Romanidis and Wheldon run away from the pack, pulling away from Zeis as he faced pressure from Michael Janney, Przemyslaw Marek Lemanek, and Josh Thompson. But it was Pinto who would land the final podium spot in that race, taking advantage of a last-lap battle gone awry between that quartet to jump from seventh to third.

In the battle for the championship and a full-season ride in the real-world Skip Barber Formula Race Series, neither Pinto nor Harley Haughton was able to separate themselves. Pinto’s 11^th and third place finishes scored him 50 points, the same as Haughton got for finishing seventh and fifth, and so the duo remain split by just a single point going into next week’s deciding event from Road America.

Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series race one results from VIRginia International Raceway were as follows:

Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series race two results from VIRginia International Raceway were as follows:

Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series points through four events are as follows:

1. Diogo Pinto, 242
2. Harley Haughton, 241
3. Michael Janney, 213
4. Josh Thompson, 210
5. Brandon Hawkin, 195
6. Matt Caruana, 184
7. Sebastian Wheldon, 170
8. Przemyslaw Marek Lemanek, 166
9. Michael Romanidis, 156
10. Jordan Johnson, 151

Qualifying for next week’s Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series finale from Road America begins today. All broadcasts will begin at 8PM ET across iRacing social media channels. To sign up to compete, click here.

For more information on the Skip Barber Racing School, visit www.skipbarber.com. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

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