Leading a race-high 43 out of 61 laps, Trading Paints Racing once again claimed the top step on the podium in Saturday’s Round 7 of the 2023 VSCA SportsCar Championship and the team seems well on its way to securing the LMP2 championship.
Making it four straight wins, the Allentown, Pennsylvania team continues to dominate the 2023 season in LMP2 class competition, in impressive fashion.
Still, the No. 19 Dallara team proves to be hungry for more.
“We had a great result with our fourth-straight victory, although I must admit feeling a little disappointed that we couldn't secure a fourth-straight pole position as well. During qualifying, I pushed the limits a bit too much, which cost us a chance at pole.”, said Jordan Erickson.
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| Lap 7: Tomas Mora in the No. 155 DS Racing eSports Dallara loses control and hits the barriers. The team went on to battle back to a P4 finish - © 2023 VSCAracing.com / Benjamin Fischer |
And while at times it looked like an easy race for the championship leaders, it wasn’t all easy for the team.
“Toward the closing stages of the race Nick encountered some unexpected electrical issues and was forced to power-cycle his wheel, causing us to lose valuable time and the lead we had built up. However, he did a remarkable job managing the traffic and recaptured the lead and ultimately closed out the race.”, added Jordan Erickson.
The No. 96 Albrecht Motorsports Dallara and No. 13 Vision 1 Motorsports Dallara rounded out the podium, crossing the line 12 and 23 seconds behind the race winners, respectively.
For Albrecht Motorsports, it was a fifth top-five in seven starts this season, as the German team continues a remarkably successful and consistent 2023 campaign - but still not quite good enough to keep up with the championship leaders, who expanded their points lead to now 283 points with only four races remaining.
Vision 1 Motorsports continues an upward trend, earning another top-five result. The No. 13 Dallara already claimed a P5 finish at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, as the team continues a strong summer.
The team’s sister car, the No. 11 Dallara started from VR7UAL Pole Position after posting a fastest lap of 1:20.113, edging their team-mates in the No. 13 car for the top spot on the starting grid.
However, on lap six, the No. 19 Dallara of Jordan Erickson took the race lead from the No. 11 Vision 1 Motorsports machine, with a diving pass into turn four.
No. 155 Dallara finds trouble early on, fights back to P4
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| Lap 32: After losing control, Robert Cancian gets hit by the No. 155 DS Racing eSports Dallara, resulting in damage that cost the team five laps and a P7 finish - © 2023 VSCAracing.com / Benjamin Fischer |
On lap 7 the No. 155 Dallara of Tomas Mora spun out into the outside retaining barriers, when the Digital Spirit DS Racing driver was caught off guard by a GT and LMP2 class car going side by side into turn twelve, directly ahead.
The impact damaged Mora’s race car but the Portuguese driver was able to continue on the track, now running in 11th and last position.
Through a remarkable battle, the team and Pedro Vargas, who took over from Mora after the driver swap pit stop on lap 27, came all the way back to finish in fourth place.
The No. 86 GSE Racing eSports Dallara meanwhile rounded out the top-five finishers, claiming P5.
VRG Sport No. 66 Dallara involved in big crash
Andy Banfield and the No. 66 VRG Sport Dallara experienced a nightmare when on lap eight the 58-year old series veteran lost control coming out of turn 13.
Trying to regain control and save the car from crashing into the concrete walls, Banfield locked up the brakes, blocking the racing surface.
With nowhere to go, the fast-approaching No. 193 Dallara LMP2 machine of Christopher Daniel hit Banfield’s car hard, triggering one of the bigger incidents of the race.
Both cars immediately had to turn to pit lane for repairs, following the incident, dropping to tenth and eleventh position in the process and by that, the bottom in class.
The No. 193 MAD Sim Racing machine completed sixty of 61 laps, but was ultimately disqualified for failing to use the minimum number of drivers required for this race (two).
The No. 66 VRG Sport machine finished 12 laps down and P8 in the end.
Major incidents following restart
On lap 32, after the race restarted following another full course caution period, things got dicey in a hurry between the No. 13 Vision 1 Motorsports, No. 121 Olympus eSports and No. 155 DS Racing eSports Dallara in turn three.
With the latter two cars making a diving pass, respectively, the three cars found themselves running out of real estate that the Raceway on Belle Isle, one of only two street courses on the season calendar, has so very precious little of.
The consequence was as dramatic as it was expected with the three cars crashing in one of the bigger incidents of the race, with seemingly the worst end of it for innocent bystander, the No. 13 car of Kyle Allen, who was running in fifth position at the time of the incident.
Later on the same lap, Agee Motorsports driver Robert Cancian lost control of his No. 17 Dallara LMP2 after slightly cutting the curbs in turn eight.
While Cancian was able to avoid crashing into the walls, the No. 155 Dallara of DS Racing eSports right behind wasn’t able to react in time and the two cars collided.
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| Lap 8: Coming out of turn 13, Andy Banfield loses control of his No. 66 VRG Sport Dallara P217 and gets hit by the No. 193 MAD Sim Racing car directly behind. Both cars had to pit for repairs and were never a factor in the remainder of the race - © 2023 VSCAracing.com / Benjamin Fischer |
For Agee Motorsports and local hometown hero Cancian, the crash resulted in a disappointing loss of five laps. But it was still a very respectable P6 finish for the Virginia-based team that competes in its second VSCA SportsCar Championship season this year.
Just a few minutes later, on lap 40, chaos broke out in exactly the same spot. This time an incident involved the No. 11 Dallara of Vision 1 Motorsports, the No. 119 Lamborghini of Trading Paints Racing and the No. 14 Dallara LMP2 of Fischer Motorsport.
After contact with the No. 312 BMW of Real Pixel Motorsport, the No. 119 Lamborghini spun on the exit of turn eight and hit the wall with Wil Coffey in the No. 11 car and Thomas Martin in the No. 14 car not able to react in time and smashing into the GTD class car.
The three-car incident had major consequences for the two LMP2 teams, who wound up P10, 21 laps down and P7, six laps down, respectively.
For the Fischer Motorsport car, this continues a roller coaster summer of second place finishes intermixed with finishes outside the top five or even top ten.
Completing the top ten finishers in P8 and P9 were the No. 66 VRG Sport Dallara and No. 121 Olympus eSports Dallara.
No. 19 Dallara front and center, clear-cut favorite to win championship
By winning their fourth straight race, the Trading Paints Racing No. 19 Dallara has long established status as favorites to take this year’s LMP2 class championship.
Extending the championship lead to 283 points over closest challenger, the No. 96 Dallara of Albrecht Motorsports, Trading Paints Racing have all the trump cards in their pocket with only four races remaining.
After finishing six laps down, the No. 14 Dallara of Fischer Motorsport drops to third in the championship standings.
Likewise, Trading Paints Racing also continues to dominate the VSCA Sprint Cup, where the No. 19 Dallara leads 142 points. The Detroit Sports Car Classic marked the team’s third VSCA Sprint Cup win of the season.
“The competition in the LMP2 class of VSCA is incredibly tough and the field is getting closer every week. Congratulations to the Vision 1 (Motorsports) guys on their well-deserved first podium - they have truly been pushing us to elevate our game in recent weeks. That’s awesome for them, to see them on the podium!”, said Jordan Erickson after the race.
“We're optimistic about our standings in both championships, but don't want to dismiss the competition in the LMP2 class. Our focus remains on maintaining consistency and performance for future success.”
Road America up next in early August
The VSCA SportsCar Championship continues with Round 8 at Road America on August 5th, 2023 with the Elkhart Lake Sports Car Challenge.
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