It was another wild VSCA SportsCar Championship race at Road America on Saturday with several incidents, hard position battles and some late-race drama.
For the second time this season, the No. 79 BMW of Champion Motorsports takes the top step on the podium, following a post-race penalty to long-time race leaders No. 99 BMW of JO Motorsports, for entering a closed pit lane under full-course yellow.
In VR7UAL Pole Qualifying, Irishman Sheamus Power put the competition on notice by putting his JO Motorsports BMW M Hybrid V8 on pole with a blistering quick lap of 1:46.812, beating Brazilian Washington Carvalho in the No. 12 Delta Racing machine by 0.028 seconds.
Power was able to translate the pole position into leading the first 25 laps of the race, before handing over the car to team-mate Jonathan Oshalim. Overall the No. 99 BMW led the first 54 laps of the race, before championship leaders No. 7 BMW and Joshua Wolf took the top spot in class and overall.
However, the race turned into a nightmare for Wolf and his team, when the Grizzly Motorsports machine made contact with the No. 151 BMW M4 GT3 of World Of SimRacing in turn nine, sending the No. 7 BMW into the concrete wall.
The former ended up P5 in the end, three laps down and saw their points lead shrink, as the championship battle in LMDh tightens with only three races remaining in the season.
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| Lap 44: Heading into turn 14, a misunderstanding between the No. 3 Mayer Simspeed Performance and No. 219 Lamborghini of Trading Paints Racing triggers a big crash - © 2023 VSCAracing.com / Benjamin Fischer |
Running a somewhat quiet race under the radar, the No. 51 World Of SimRacing BMW finished second in Saturday’s second annual Elkhart Lake Sports Car Challenge, nearly 40 seconds behind the race winner and after leading one lap earlier in the race.
Rounding out the podium was the No. 99 BMW of JO Motorsports, after leading a race-high 62 laps and starting from pole.
New series debutants No. 39 BMW of Sapphire SimSport, finished fourth, two laps down, after getting caught up in an incident between the No. 79 and No. 51 car on lap one, directly up ahead in turn twelve.
Disappointed faces all around were present in the paddock of Mayer Simspeed Performance. Jason Birnie, who made his first start for the team since Watkins Glen in June, was involved in a crash on lap 44.
Heading into the final turn of the track, turn 14, the California native made a diving move on the No. 219 Lamborghini of Trading Paints Racing driver Patrick Lindsey and the two cars collided.
The crash resulted in severe damage to Birnie’s No. 3 BMW M Hybrid V8, who was running in third position at the time. While the crew - almost miraculously - was able to repair the damage and send the car back out on track, the team lost 17 minutes in the process and fell behind seven laps and never played a role again in the outcome of the race.
The sixth-place finish also marks the fifth straight race that the No. 3 machine failed to finish on the lead lap.
DS Racing eSports Team and their No. 88 BMW did not fare any better. On lap six Nelson Clemente attempted to pass the No. 221 Olympus eSports Lamborghini on the outside, on the exit of the carousel, but ran out of real estate on the track and into the dirt, where he lost control and crashed into the concrete wall.
Resulting in obvious heavy damage to the race car, the No. 88 car wound up seventh, eight laps down and was unable to keep the momentum of their win at Detroit Belle Isle from two weeks earlier.
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| The No. 39 Sapphire SimSport BMW M Hybrid V8 made its series debut at Road America, finishing fourthh - © 2023 VSCAracing.com / Benjamin Fischer |
Making their first start since Watkins Glen in June, the No. 21 Olympus eSports BMW returned to the grid on Saturday and qualified a strong fifth in VR7UAL Pole Qualifying, but was unable to carry over the momentum to a good result in the race.
Restarting in second position on lap 60, following the lone full-course caution of the race, Sophie Ridpath appeared to suffer a mechanical issue in the car with a sudden loss of power at the end of the lap.
By the time she reached turn five the following lap, the car showed significant problems and the 22-year old British driver went off track and parked the car in the gravel. In the end, the Olympus eSports entry wound up eighth, twelve laps down.
The No. 12 BMW of Delta Racing and No. 73 BMW of DeltaSport rounded out the top ten in LMDh class competition.
No. 7 BMW still in championship lead, but Champion Motorsports closes in
In the championship, things are tightening up. Following their second win of the season, the No. 79 BMW of Champion Motorsports has reduced the points deficit to championship leaders No. 7 BMW of Grizzly Motorsports to only 16 points.
Mayer Simspeed Performance and their No. 3 BMW are still in contention, despite their recent string of bad finishes, only 73 points out of the lead.
A bit of a gap opens up behind the top three with the No. 99 JO Motorsports machine sitting in fourth, at a 216-point deficit, while DS Racing eSports Team look at a gap of 390 points.
The series returns to action for the third-to-last championship round at Virginia International Raceway on August 26th.
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