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As we approach the mid-way mark of the 2024 Logitech Pro Invitational Series, driver movements have continued to raise eyebrows mid-season.

Griffin Gardiner has officially left 9ine 5ive simsports and is tipped to turn up at Lobs Esport, confirmation expected prior to next weeks Road America round of the series.

Gardiners exit from 9ine 5ive has left a huge hole as team leader on track, almost immediately filled by returning Ric Kuznetsov. Ric left 9ine 5ive only six months ago for Altus, who have subsequently folded, and at that time Ric turned up at the fast-expanding Vermillion Motorsports, only for this all to go full circle with Ric now confirmed to fill the void at 9ine 5ive left by Gardiners exit.

Unconfirmed reports have a bombshell announcement imminent, with Lobs Esports reportedly signing Andrew Gilliam, expected to be confirmed alongside Gardiner at a bolstered Lobs Esports.

This leaves Vermillion Motorsport without its two star drivers it signed only a matter of weeks ago, and who secured the team's first pro series podium.

Ric Kuznetsov will leave Vermillion and return to 9ine 5ive Sim Sports for Road America

Lobs Esports already have a formidable roster, with Filsell, Rudd, Rosella and Scott. Adding Gardiner and Gilliam to this team will fill four of the top 5 championship positions as we stand after round 5.

Trans Tasman Racing have enjoyed depth of front-running talent in recent years, with other teams unable to match the sheer numbers of front-running cars in the mix for podiums and race wins, this would certainly change the dynamic at the front of the field and give Lobs the upper hand.

If this is true, how will this play out? Who will have to play support? We have seen over the years, TTR have had a policy where all drivers are free to race, which has worked for and against them at times. What will the policy be at Lobs?

It has certainly been an interesting couple of weeks, let’s see what team and liveries everyone turns up in for Road America next week!

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When we rolled out from Watkins Glen a few new things were in the air and a few questions were to be answered. Was the new damage model going to have the impact we suggested or perhaps the changes to the kerbs would be a bigger impact?

Qualifying came down to the last few moments as Ethan Grigg-Gault would nab pole on his final lap of the session, 1.08.083 being the lap he needed. This would be three quarters of a second slower than last years pole time and that would speak the loudest about the changes to the track conditions.

However, when it came time to fire the beasts down into turn one for the first time, Grigg-Gault would not find the traction at the rear axle he was looking for out of the #7 Evolution Racing Team machine.

Jake Burton would take the lead on lap one and settle into a comfortable rhythm out front, but in behind places would swap regularly inside the top 10.

When you go racing at a track that has the feeling of a high speed street circuit, something is always going to go wrong. Unfortunately for Synergy Sim Racing it was Jordan Ross getting into the barriers, and arriving back on track directly in front of Michael Talijancich. This would double down on the misery for Synergy Sim Racing with “Tally” and Jobe Stewart beginning a new mechanical relationship with SSR prior to this round. Talijancich would retire from the session at the conclusion of lap 1, Ross would attempt to get the car repaired and continue for points.

Lap 5 would make it a trio of SSR worked on cars with issues as Tom Freer would make contact with Brian Borg and find himself in the barriers and with a missing front end, and front wheels.

Jake Burton jumps away from the start to lead into turn 1

The next phase of the race on the restart would kick off an immense amount of “Go slow” battles as fuel games would be the critical part of the midpoint of the race. The entire field had checked off one of the two required compulsory pit stops and this was about shortening the final stop for track position.

Unfortunately for SSR the troubles would continue, but not until lap 24 and 25 when Brenton Hobson would lose all vision from in the server and be parked on the inside of the loop, followed by the #07 of Brady Baldwin in the fence. This would bring out Safety Car number two of the night and the fuel games would kick into overdrive.

Jarrad Filsell would underfill his car slightly to gain the track position, and Jobe Stewart would also opt for a touch less fuel than the bulk of the field to jump to 2nd. James Scott would also elect to add less fuel than those around him and jump from 9th to 6th place in the lane.

The quiet achiever to this point of the race would be Luke Rosella, starting from pit lane all the way to 22nd at the Safety Car restart. Thomas Freeman would also make big gains, from 40th on the grid to 24th at the restart.

Another tame run would commence, some looking to burn the extra fuel and make track position, others being a lot more tame. If you thought this race would settle down, no way, you haven’t been watching the same Logitech Pro Invitational Series I have for 2024 and the race took a huge turn with another SSR car being eliminated through the biggest incident of the night on Lap 48.

Fawzan El-Nabi would try and get to the inside of Scott Gamble at the esses, after a hole was opened by a move from Thomas Freeman at turn one, but El-Nabi would miss the apex of turn 2, tag Gamble and put himself in the fence, ripping a front left off his car in the process. From here he would be a passenger across the grass and back across the track in front of Tao Soerono, tripping up Robert Gibbs and leaving Jacob O’Reilly nowhere to go when he arrived at the crest at speed.

Before the Safety Car could be called Madison Down and Ethan Grigg-Gault would also make contact that would lose both of them a few spots. The spot would be redressed, but the loss of spots would net Down a 5 second penalty that would end up applied to his post-race time.

Jarrad Filsell would be unleashed with 14 laps left to run and from here the fuel games would stop for the first time. The pace and aggression would both somehow find a way to ratchet up another notch with this final run being for all the marbles.

Kurt Stenberg opted for fresh rubber at the final Safety Car and would be the only one of 5 cars to do so and make significant ground. Stenberg left the train from 21st and would drive back to 15th.

The final drama of the night would happen to the Pole Sitter as Ethan Grigg-Gault would continue his lack of luck in the race. He would turn in fractionally too early at the chicane with 2 laps to run, breaking the left front off the car and making for his second retirement of the season, combined with his race finish with a damaged car at Sebring.

No one though would be able to hold a candle to Jarrad Filsell who would make it two race wins on the trot!

Filsell en-route to his second straight race win

Right now the Speedcafe Lobs Esports cars are going from strength to strength, and the big question of the season is going to become “What will it take to stop these guys?”. Jarrad Filsell wants to redeem himself for 2023, and could the circuit where the biggest chunk of the drama from last year become the place where he becomes our championship leader?

Ethan Grigg-Gault has been quick, but unforced errors have been his biggest enemy. Damage in all that transpired at Sebring was not necessarily his fault. Too early on the downshift at Phillip Island certainly was, as was his contact with the barrier with the end in sight at Watkins Glen. Its the 1% ‘ers that are stopping Grigg-Gault from regularly being on the podium and right now see him sitting just inside the qualifying bubble at 19th.

Next time out is Road America and a more traditional Supercars circuit. This will be a place where everyone has a tonne of laps and could lead to a return to the status quo in terms of the pecking order.

As usual, the only way to find out about the action will be to tune in to the race from 7.45pm on July 3rd!

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by Scott Rankin

Is it just me, or is there something in the air this year. Sometimes I think I can smell the petrol through the screens.

With this championship set the way it is, something is going to happen at Watkins Glen. Its just too short and sharp a track for it not to happen.

Lap one through the Esses is about the most claustrophobic you can ever feel in a race car. Imagine if the start line at Bathurst was three quarters of the way up Mountain Straight. We’d be going across the top 3 wide. Car drivers are just crazy, absurd, mental, nuts, not normal…Well… You get the idea.

Watkins Glen has been an icon of American Road racing for a long time. It put V8 Supercars on the map for the NASCAR nuts when Ambrose won here in 2011. I hadn’t even heard of NASCAR then, boy has that changed now. Could someone in the field write their own story of Victory from obscurity?

When we got here last year, the series had just skipped over Round 4 from Road America due to the timing of an iRacing update. This year we’re going to be just over a week into one of the biggest changes to Supercars racing in the time we’ve been on the Gen 2 car!

New Damage Model, N-D-M. Three letters, big consequences. “That's not a big change, nah that's going to have no impact, you’re off your rocker”. I’m not, I’ve been clinically checked, and yes it will be a big change but not to the speed of the cars, more to the way the drivers go racing.

Last year’s race qualifying times were ridiculously close. A dead heat for 2nd on the grid, and the next driver only 2 thousandths of a second further back. Jarrad Filsell took pole last year and was the only driver comfortably clear in terms of the timings. Everyone else was hundredths apart. When your pole time was 1:07.250 there’s not many places to gain time, but certainly a bunch of places to lose it.

Fuel is going to be a big talking point as well. Filsell didn’t want to lead the opening stages of the race from pole position last year, and whenever you hear that from a driver it's a critical part of the race.

The draft is expected to play a critical role again at Watkins Glen

Expect a big draft train. We expected that at the Red Bull Ring, but the train broke up centred around drivers who were struggling on tires. At the Glen that won’t be as big of an issue. The draft will keep those drivers relevant for a longer period of time.

The other note from last year was the the 9ine5ive outfit had a very strong round both from qualifying and race pace. Dylan Rudd lead the way very early on, but ailed on the long run pace. Theoretically if the Speedcafe Lobs Esports crew have a bit better pace, this might be Dylan Rudd’s breakthrough round.

Race pace from Andrew Gilliam was very strong last year and he made up ground from 12th to just miss out on a podium. Gilliam has been looking fantastic of late and could he break through for a round win?

Righto, time for me to send out the commentators' curse on a few people. What do I think is going to happen?

My predictions

Trans Tasman Racing will put 2 cars on the podium. - Jake Burton won last year from Madison Down. I expect their pace to be strong, but this is my least confident prediction.

We will see at least one safety car. My gut is telling me we will see two. - New Damage Model and limited time on that prior to this round says we will see something new, some kind of damage-related issue.

Dylan Rudd will be in the podium, or outside of the top 10. - He ran brilliantly here last year

Synergy Sim Racing’s run of strong quiet finishes comes to an end. Brenton Hobson, Jordan Ross, Tom Freer and Adam Briggs have barely featured on the coverage, but boy they have been putting points on the board. Tom Freer sits 4th in the standings and Hobson also inside the top 10 in 8th. Something happens to these guys…. It's got to happen somewhere in the field and Jordan Ross got some heavy hits last year.

The big question to everyone reading this is “Who do you think is going to win this race?”.

That race win could come from anywhere in the field and luck and timing will be the deciders in the race. Do you roll the dice with an early stop to get out of the pack? Do you run long and pin your hopes on a Safety Car? Tire fall off isn’t a big part of this race as well!

I’m thoroughly excited, see you all on race night!

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by Scott Rankin

The 2024 season has been a weird one thus far. We’ve just come off the back of the biggest tire saving race in the history of the series. Every comment I’ve heard from anyone has been along the lines of “man that was tough, that race challenged every ability I had”.

Within that though lies an opportunity to really showcase your talents. One driver in particular has really started to move forward as the season has been progressing. 19th - 11th - 5th - 3rd. That's a string of results that suggests confidence, and to get some understanding into the driver behind that I needed to chat to none other than Andrew Gilliam.

This year has a huge opportunity to seize the upper hand in the early stages of the championship. Last year we probably saw your more aggressive side seeking that race win, and it paid off. Are you driving a bit differently this year?

Last year was my final year of Uni and on a few occasions that bit me with poor preparation. I wasn’t consistent enough and so I drove for individual results whenever I was well prepared enough. Now that I’ve graduated and have some stability, I’m really looking to the bigger picture knowing we can put our best foot forward every race. With how ridiculously tight the field is this year; I don’t want to take any top 5 results for granted. If you lose your rhythm, it might be hard to get back to the front pack for a few rounds.

The drive from Jerez was long and arduous, and had an amazing time battling away with Marcello Rivera as well. Walk us through your emotions crossing the line in 3rd and getting that first podium in the series for Vermillion Motorsports.

That race honestly felt as big as my win at Detroit last year. With only 1 pitstop and a shorter race, less could go wrong and I could rely on the genuine pace we had. At Jerez, we had to learn how to manage the tyres better than we ever had before. Curtis studied our data to give me clean air, half a litre at the line, and a tyre advantage over Marcello. If anyone in our team had dropped the ball that podium wouldn’t have been possible. I had so much support behind me, and coming up to the last few corners knowing a move wasn’t possible, I can’t express how thrilled I was to reward everyone’s huge efforts.

Wednesday night we’re off to Watkins Glen, a race that is touted as the “Bull Ring” race of the season. Last year’s result was good enough for 4th position. How's the preparations for this year’s event looking, and can you go one better this year?

I agree it’s a tough event. If you can’t nail qualifying you’re locked into a tough night with how difficult the overtaking is, especially once we settle into a draft train. Preparations are looking good and I’m confident we can build on the momentum of the last few rounds to stay in that top 5 pack.

Something that's going to become relevant later in the year is the co-drivers for the 3 round endurance cup. Has your co-driver been locked in as yet, and can you fill us in on who it is? How’s the rest of the Vermillion crew looking? I’d imagine that would be a bit of a challenge with a new team building out the co-driver roster.

We have a decent idea of who will be with who at this stage, but nothing is locked in yet. We have a strong line up of drivers who are developing their skills in V8SCOPS and East Coast and practice with us eager to perform when we need them.

Last year you picked off a race win on the streets of Belle Isle in Detroit. Can we finally see that round win this year and do you have a track in particular you think is your best shot?

I genuinely believe that I can come into any of the remaining rounds with a shot at the round win. I have plenty of experience racing at the rest of the circuits, so I have a good idea of what’s expected to be performing at the top. If any though, I would love to break through for a result at Bathurst. I’ve had 3 V8SCOPS poles in a row and started alongside James in the Pro Invitational Series round last year but have suffered some bad luck and always had to switch to recovery mode.

What I get from Andrew is that sense of self belief, both in his own abilities and those around him. The Vermillion crew are starting to put all the right pieces of the puzzle together.

This is going to be a big year, a big opportunity, time for Gilliam to reach out and grab it.

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by Scott Rankin