by Donald Wayne Strout (03/08/2016)
Tim Holgate Dominates at Gateway—roaring out of T4 for the Win.
Fuel
and Pit Stop strategy almost determines the outcome…again
The second event
of the new 2016 iAdvance Motorsports Indy Elite Series (12 races—11 ovals and one
street course in Long Beach) ran at the Gateway oval on Sunday, March 6, at 7PM
EST. This race was sponsored by Peters
Motorsports Designs. http://petersmotorsports.com/
The
race was broadcasted live on RacespotTV http://racespot.tv/ as well as iRacing Live. http://www.iracing.com/live/ and can be seen on iRacing.com’s Youtube
channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IztVAQS6zGU
26 iRacing
drivers took the green flag at Gateway Motorsports Park. Missing was
Christopher Demeritt who was busy over the weekend defending his Winter Series
title. Niles Anders earned the Pole with a very impressive time of 24.673. Tim
Holgate also started on the front row with a qualifying time of 24.744.
The front row
proved to be an important advantage as Anders led the first three laps, with Holgate
taking the lead on lap 4, and holding that lead all the way until his green
flag pit stop on lap 119. Holgate clearly dominated, running in clean air most
of the time, except when encountering lapped traffic.
The first
yellow flag came out on lap 19 with a spin by Finland’s Toni Helminen who
started in 6th position, moved up to 5th, passing Joe
Flanagan on lap 2, but lost speed after an incident on lap 10 and dropped back
before his spin in T2.
On the restart,
it was again Tim Holgate leading with Niles Anders close behind. The show
really was about the action going on for the positions in P3-P10. It is never
surprising to see guys like Holgate, Anders, Doyle, Walters, Jennings and
Branch contesting for the top positions.
But one must now add Joe Flanagan and one other to that “list”. Starting
in P5, Flanagan moved to P4 and took over P2 on lap 116.
The “one other”
name that needs to now be added to the “list” of “expected leaders” is Alabama
based oval “ace” Jonathan Goke. Starting the race in P12, Goke moved up
steadily thru the field with some expertly executed, if somewhat risky, maneuvers
and superb racecraft.
Goke puts move on Strout, passing on outside in T1/2.
After passing
Strout for P8 on the lap 23 restart, Goke set his sights on Marco Brasil.
Brasil was racing side by side with James McClure for P6. McClure took the
outside line in T1/2, forcing Brasil to lift on exit. Knowing he was slowed,
Brasil moved to the left in anticipation of the expected pass from Goke, close
behind. But instead of moving right to go around, Goke moved left to the bottom
of the track-to Brasil’s left. Brasil then moved right to make room, but Goke
had to slow enough with his car barely on the inside of the track, that Strout
moved back ahead. The three of them: Brasil, Strout and Goke would run close
together for much of the race.
A spin in T4 by
Nathan Bookbinder brought out the second yellow flag on lap 90. Goke emerged in
P5 in front of Brasil and Strout.
Goke attempts to squeeze by Joe Flanagan going into T1
Goke was on a
mission, soon challenging Joe Flanagan for P4, but Flanagan, taking the low
line in T1/2 was able to defend his position.
As Joe Branch was challenging Niles Anders for P2, Brasil was
challenging Goke for P5. Goke answered the challenge with a perfectly executed strategic
car positioning “Slide Job” in T4, forcing Brasil to lift and allowing Strout
to pass Brasil. (A “Slide Job” is when the car on the inside slides out to the
outside to force the car slightly behind on the outside to slow---eliminating
the normal speed advantage at exit typical for the high lane on a short track.)
Brasil was to soon retake P6 from Strout and the three, seemingly evenly
matched, again followed each other like a train for the rest of the race.
Goke uses “strategic car positioning” to maintain advantage
over Brasil
Now comes the
fuel strategy drama. Anders, Doyle and Branch pitted on laps 116/117,
indicating the high probability that they took less than a full fuel load in
the lap 90 pitstop. Holgate pitted on 119.
As Holgate was entering, the third and final yellow flag of the race came out.
Luck or extreme competence---whatever,
Holgate emerged at the restart still in P1. Following Holgate was Flanagan, Goke, Strout,
Brasil, Anders, Branch and Doyle.
Holgate
dominated the last 16 laps, Flanagan maintained P2, followed by Goke in P3.
Brasil moved up to P4, followed by Strout in P5. Behind in P6-8 on the lead lap
were Anders, Doyle and Branch, whose early pit stop under the green flag had
allowed the train of Goke, Brasil and Strout (who stayed out until the Yellow
on lap 120) to finish ahead of them.
Sometimes a full fuel tank pit stop gives
advantage, sometimes not.
Rounding out
the top 10 was Paul Jennings in P9 and Tim Miller in P10, both one lap down.
With two wins
in two starts, Holgate leads with 106 Series Points. After two 3rd
place podium finishes, Goke is second in Series Points with 70, ahead of Tim
Doyle with 66.
The series
moves next to Auto Club in California on March 20, at 7PM EST. Race sponsored
by Darren Manning’s iAM Simulator. http://www.iadvancemotorsports.com/iam-simulator/
Darren Manning’s iAM Simulator.
AWESOME!
