Gibbs wins dramatic finish to Logitech Pro Invitational opener!
252 Kilometres of racing action was ended with a mad two lap dash to the end in dramatical circumstances for the season opener of the Logitech Pro Invitational Supercars Series hosted on iRacing this Wednesday night.
Qualifying saw James Scott’s Speedcafe Lobs Esports #088 Holden Commodore would take pole position in the dying stages of the 15 minute session with a 1:59.991, besting Madison Down’s #1 Trans Tasman Racing Commodore by 22 Thousandths of a second.
The top 20 from Qualifying would be covered by just over five tenths of a second as well, setting the stage for an intense race.
Of note was a penalty to the #94 of Jarrad Filsell, who would start from 43rd after several penalties in 2023. Jarrad was quickly on the front foot and looking to make a dent into the field by overtaking 11 cars to 32nd at the end of lap 1.
James Scott narrowly took Pole position in the final moments of Qualifying
Evolution Racing Team’s Ethan Grigg-Gault would take advantage of squabbling ahead of him to launch down the inside at T7 and into 3rd place from 6th on the starting grid.
The front end of the field went fairly quiet until the first round of pit stops from here, with most drivers looking to save fuel and gain the advantage with less time stopped than their nearest competition.
Lap 5 would see the first major incident of the night when the #19 9ine5ive Simsport entry of Dylan O’Shea would run off line at Turn 15. Andrew Gilliam would attempt to sneak down the inside but pinch a front brake and run wide into O’Shea creating a major check up that would see Beau Albert put into the inside barriers at the exit of 16 and end any chance of a strong finish for Beau’s debut night in the series.
James Scott would lead the race from Madison Down and Brady Meyers, with Meyers getting by Grigg-Gault on Lap 12. Scott would pit from the lead on Lap 17 and opt to cover off any benefit of fresh tires and an undercut.
Meyers would dive to the lane on lap 19 as he clawed his way to the rear bumper of Madison Down. Down would opt to run long and give up track position before pitting at the end of Lap 21.
A wild run into turn 1 on the opening lap
Fawzan El-Nabi would make a strong showing for the Synergy Sim Racing outfit and would take on less fuel at this round of stops to jump Griffin Gardiner and move inside the top 5.
Having a strong but quiet night at the office as well was the #28 Mustang of Richard Hamstead. Resurfacing after the first stops in 7th place right on the gearbox of Gardiner, but with a hard charging Jarrad Filsell only a couple of seconds further back in 8th place. Filsell had gained 35 spots by the end of lap 21.
The run to the 2nd round of stops would be largely sedate with the top 8 being largely spread out until Meyers would catch Scott with his slightly fresher rubber, and Down catching them just before the last stops would begin.
Scott would lock front brakes on the run to the Hairpin at T7 on Lap 28, creating enough of a gap for Meyers to get by on the inside.
Luke Rosella from the Speedcafe Lobs Esports outfit would trigger the first Safety Car of the night after blowing his engine on a downshift into Sunset Bend (T17) on Lap 30 and failing to get back to pit lane. This would be the catalyst for the last round of pit stops for anyone who was yet to come to the lane.
As the train of cars would be normalised the running order would be Meyers, Scott, Down, El-Nabi, Grigg-Gault, Gardiner and Filsell to round out the top 7. Filsell would sense an opportunity in the water as the Safety Car would negate a 15s margin to the leaders.
"The top 20 from Qualifying would be covered by just over five tenths of a second as well, setting the stage for an intense race."
The race would be restarted on lap 34 with Filsell getting great drive off T7 to end up down the inside of Gardiner at T10 and move into P6.
From this point forwards all drivers would sense the urgency to grab spots where they could and at nearly every corner there would be a 2 wide situation somewhere in the field.
James Scott would crawl all over the rear bumper of rival Brady Meyers, with Madison Down looking to take advantage on the pair of them. This would start with front to rear contact from Down into Scott, with Scott then bumping into Meyers as well at the hairpin on Lap 36. Meyers would struggle mid corner and Scott would take the opportunity with Down following suit.
From here a stoush for the ages would kick off between race leader James Scott and Madison Down whilst Meyers would attempt to recover and pressure them both.
Contact at the final turn between Down and Scott on lap 38, would see them connect and run into the outside barriers before ricocheting back into the horde of traffic. Meyers would be too close to respond and unable to find a way out.
All counted, 16 of the 44 entries would be damaged in some manner, meaning more than a third of the field would be injured as the Stewards would scramble to attempt to get the race back underway with 4 laps left in the event.
The lap 38 crash claimed ended many of the front runners races
Unable to continue would be James Scott, Brady Meyers, Jarrad Filsell, Wayne Bourke, Jake Burton, Joshua Anderson, Marcello Rivera and Andre Yousseff. Griffin Gardiner would survive the melee only for his internet connection to give out whilst he had the lead of the race under Safety Car.
Down and Grigg-Gault would both survive, but would have significant damage.
Richard Hamstead would assume the lead of the race, with Grigg-Gault immediately behind, followed by Madison Down, Robert Gibbs, Tom Freer, Hayden Veld, Dylan Rudd, Jacob O’Reilly, Jobe Steward and Matthew Bowler rounding out the top 10.
With Sim Racing not requiring the use of Tow Trucks and other course vehicles to rescue all of the stricken cars, the race was able to be restarted with two to go.
Richard Hamstead would cross the line first, before suffering from a 30s Post Race Penalty, which would hand Robert Gibbs his first win in the series as well as his first ever podium. Tom Freer would manage to collect 2nd and Hayden Veld 3rd.
Madison Down would fall to 6th at the line, but also receive a 30s Post Race Penalty which would drop him to 31st in the standings.
The bulk of the top 10 would record their best ever finishes in one of the craziest ends to a race I’ve ever witnessed.
There are outstanding protests related to the outcome of this race so results are not final right now. To keep up to date with final results click the link below:
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by Scott Rankin
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