2022 ChampCar iRacing Series: Round 3, Summit Point - 3/2/2022, 3/9/2022

[Rapido]

That's right, it's time for our first dose of mandated FWD fun this season as the lovely VW Jetta return to our calendar. This is the first instance of a departure from the CCES calendar, as we take the opportunity to race at Summit Point; one of the last remaining circuits in North America where it's possible to hit a tree. Thankfully these are only virtual representations of foliage, so your vehicles will be easily repaired.

 

As usual, a pit stop should be required to finish the race, and it might get a bit dark towards the end. Good luck!

 

Session Details

 

• Practice Round: Wednesday, 2-March-2022
• Championship Round: Wednesday, 9-March-2022
• Practice Start: 6:30pm ET
• Qualifying Start: 8:30pm ET
• Race Start: 9:30pm ET
• Car: Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup
• Track: Summit Point Raceway
• In-Sim Practice Session Date: Wednesday, 9-March-2022
• In-Sim Practice Session Start Time: 2:30pm
• In-Sim Time Multiplier: 1x
• Weather: Auto-Generated
• Setup: iRacing Baseline Setup with 2.1g Fuel
• Fast Repairs: 1
• License Requirements: Practice Rounds (None), Championship Round (>D2.0)

 

Useful Links
 

ChampCar iRacing Series - League Application

ChampCar iRacing Series - Discord Server

2022 ChampCar iRacing Series Schedule

2022 ChampCar iRacing Series Broadcast Information Form

2022 ChampCar iRacing Series Protest Form

 

Guide to iRacing and Hardware

How to create your own iRacing paints

iRacing Tips and Resources

[CoachMK21]

That was a pretty intense and fun practice session.  I know the Jetta gets a lot of negative attention, but it really provides for some close racing.  This track also lends to keeping the field tight.  My qually session was a little off (1:23.6), but I had a really good start and moved up a couple places fairly quickly and had a fast lap on lap 2 of 1:22.9.  I had some really good battles with Jay and Andy throughout the race and Alex too once he made his way through the field after starting last.  On lap 37, I was side by side with Jay from T1 through T5 with Alex right on our tails.  Crazy fun stuff and finished P5.

 

Looking forward to the race next Wednesday with a little bigger field too.

[mostmint]

The practice race was definitely not a snoozer!  I generally like to find a spot in clear track and concentrate on hitting my marks, but that was not this race.  Based on pre-race research I had expected a lot of close racing and as Mark said that is what we got. 

 

Had a lot of fun racing with everyone there in the back part of the top 10, lost concentration on my rhythm a few times and went off, as well as running into Corey in turn 1, luckily it was not race ending contact.  (Don't think about pit strategy when you are in a braking zone!)  And thanks to everyone for avoiding me as I got tires off on entry and went sideways through turn 3. 

 

For the first time I can remember my crew chief said "the gap has increased on Albert"!  He got by me eventually but it was fun while it lasted.

 

I was close to Mark on the last lap but needed a couple tenths smaller gap to make a move so I finished P6.

 

[CoachMK21]

23 minutes ago, mostmint said:

And thanks to everyone for avoiding me as I got tires off on entry and went sideways through turn 3. 

 

 

 

I certainly threaded the needle to avoid you and someone else in that incident.

[David Haines]

 

[mostmint]

I tried to take a week off after the last race but it didn’t work.  Also, for this event I learned you could practice against the AI which greatly helped my door to door racing skills for this race.

 

With the unseasonably warm temps in WV for early March (the forecasted high for the next 10 days runs from 46-66 degrees F - can we please fix our weather to be closer to reality?) I was unable to get new personal bests, but still came within .6 of P1 for qualifying. 

 

Got hit from behind early going into T5 and had a little off track excursion on the inside of T5, but after practicing lap 1 so many times I was able to do a little better – maintaining my starting position and not be too much of a rolling chicane the first lap.

 

On lap 2 Justin missed turn 3 and ended up sideways in front of me.  I hesitated a minute to assess where the car was going and while he did save it and get back on track it killed his momentum and I got by him to P7.

 

For several laps I was able to hold him off but eventually he got past again and I started the drafting process.  The cars behind were close and side by side racing in the corners costs many tenths so I decided to just hang with him and get some help from his draft.  There were some tense moments as I saw in my rear view mirror someone overtake P9 and really rough up the guy in T1, and I didn’t want to deal with that guy dive bombing me in T1.  After a while we opened up a decent gap on P9 but by then I was fairly well convinced that Justin was faster so I just hung on in the draft.  Tried some bump drafting there – but still a ways to go to be comfortable with that.  Eventually around mid race I pushed a little too hard exiting 6 and had to lift as I put two off and lost the draft. 

 

Shortly after that I went for my pit stop.  I thought I did pretty well but after the sequence I had lost two more seconds on him.  Good news was I had over 5 seconds on P9.  My night driving was not so great – should have practiced that a bit more – but I was able to expand the gap on P9 and finish 26 seconds behind the leader – improving my personal best by about 14 seconds. 

Edited March 10, 2022 by mostmint

[mostmint]

And for the record this Jetta “mandated fun” is appreciated!  

[Jab31169]

Not my best or favorite track in iRacing, didn't run the practice race and didn't get into quali until about 2 mins left.  So I started in the back, wayyyyy back.  Racing was actually decent for the most part.  Had a few fun battles, might have suckered some people into a few bad moves.  Had someone who was blinking in front of me for a few laps that made it really hard to get around.  In the end, made it from 29th up to 18th.  I did remember to hit the jump at the end tho.  

[David Haines]

Defending champ Mark McCormack takes his 2nd win.

[CoachMK21]

Overall, it was a fun race.  I didn't qualify very well, 14th but moved up a couple spots in the first corner, only to be punted going into T5.  The broadcast covered the incident, but named the guilty party incorrectly (it wasn't David Palermo).  I was fortunate to only drop back to 17th, and only had a little front and rear end damage.  I was able to slowly get by a few drivers before catching the back of a 5 car train (9th-13th) and decided to undercut that group and pit with around 34 minutes remaining.  I took 2 tires and the full 2.1 gallons and after the pit stops cycled through, I was in 11th.  I had some good racing with Brandon Marshall and eventually got by him into T1.  I think I really wore out my tires by that point and couldn't make an ground on Michael Thorn.  With 2 laps to go I made a mistake (well, a bigger one than I normally make) in T1 and T5 and David Martin closed way up on me.  He got past me in T1 on the final lap and I had to settle for 11th.

 

I was really hoping to have another good race with @mostmint, but the early off took away that chance.  You've had a great start to the season Andy.

 

Hey @Rapido any chance you can post the event details relatively soon for Daytona so our practice sessions (non-official ones) can be more like the race conditions?  Thanks.

Edited March 10, 2022 by CoachMK21