eNASCAR International: Alon Day goes back to back, wins at Zolder

Three of the five D-BOX eNASCAR International iRacing Series presented by Digital Motorsports are in the books after a wild one at Circuit Zolder this past weekend. Israeli NASCAR Whelen Euro Series driver Alon Day was able to score his second win in a row, becoming the first multiple race winner in the series, after winning on Saturday after 30 laps.

Circuit Zolder, race number three of the 2022 eNASCAR International iRacing Series, was the second of three road races on the schedule. It features 10 corners and measures in at 4.010-kilometers or 2.492-miles in length. The track resides in Belgium, not too far away from another famous track in the area, Spa-Francorchamps.

It wasn’t the same domination we saw from Day the week prior at Mosport, but just the same, he was able to park it in virtual victory lane. Day led 22 of the 30 laps on Saturday, the other eight belonging to pole sitter Tobias Dauenhauer. Even with a pit stop needed, Day was able to maintain the gap and pit as late as he could for the freshest tires at the end.

With his second win in three races on the season, Day moves up into second in the standings behind Victor Barrales Jr. Rajah Caruth, who led the standings in the first two rounds, fell all the way down to sixth after a retirement with a few laps to go. Next up, the series will head back to the United States for a battle at the beach at Daytona Int’l Speedway.

DAY DOMINATES AGAIN

After two races, two different drivers had continued the series streak of having a new winner in every event. With the pole position in hand, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series driver Tobias Dauenhauer looked to be the early favorite. Dauenhauer pulled out to a respectable lead over another NASCAR Whelen Euro Series driver, Simon Pilate. Pilate, like the week prior, managed to get his tires too warm too early, and after a few laps, Day was able to make his way around and into second place.

The run to catch the leader didn’t take too long for Day. Methodically working his way around the corners without going too hard, Day caught and passed Dauenhauer on lap 9. With a pit stop needed at least once in the event, both Pilate and Dauenhauer opted to pit earlier than Day. While it somewhat worked for Pilate, the eventual second place finisher, it turned into a disaster for Dauenhauer.

In an attempt to keep ahead of Pilate, who pitted just before he did, Dauenhauer did not follow proper merge procedure. He merged too early, into the path of another car, and earned a trip back down pit road to serve it. While Pilate gave chase to catch Day, who waited to pit for a set of the freshest tires at the end, Pilate pulled slightly on the top spot. It didn’t matter, though, as Day would stay unmatched for the rest of the event.

BIG SHAKEUP AT THE TOP OF THE STANDINGS

Entering the midway event of the limited season, future NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Rajah Caruth had a small margin ahead of NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series driver Victor Barrales Jr on top of the points. For the majority of the event, it seemed that Barrales Jr would be able to get the lead by a point or two by the end of it. Unfortunately for Caruth, things went more sideways than that before it was all said and over with.

While Barrales Jr ran up in the fourth position coming to the end, Caruth was mired back just inside the Top 10. While battling with NASCAR Mexico Trucks Series representative Diego Ortiz, the two came to blows multiple times. Eventually, Caruth was sent packing after heavy contact which resulted in a park for the remainder of the event.

Caruth wound up 24th instead of, at worst, a 10th place finish had he not fought so hard to keep Ortiz behind. With a 20 point loss to Barrales Jr, who managed to maintain fourth by the end, Caruth will need a miracle. He’s 18 points behind Barrales Jr now, down in sixth overall.

Barrales Jr leads Day by five points entering Daytona. If Day is able to win a third straight race, at worst, he’ll be tied for the points lead with Barrales Jr as they head into the Phoenix finale. Pinty’s driver Treyten Lapcevich, Simon Pilate and PEAK Series driver Alex de Alba round out the Top 5 with two races to go.

RACE #3 CIRCUIT ZOLDER TOP 10 FINAL RESULTS

Pos.	No.	Name	Interval
1	21	Alon Day	30 LAPS
2	8	Simon Pilate	+24.705
3	64	Paul Jouffreau	+25.299
4	39	Victor Barrales	+25.783
5	51	Jake Cosio	+35.455
6	10	Ulysse Delsaux	+41.333
7	3	Frederic Gabillon	+48.947
8	14	Alex de Alba	+49.495
9	19	Jaiden Reyna	+1:17.086
10	20	Treyten Lapcevich	+1:32.898

TOP 10 POINTS STANDINGS AFTER RACE #3 – ZOLDER

Pos.	No.	Name	Points
1	39	Victor Barrales Jr	102 points
2	21	Alon Day	97 points
3	20	Treyten Lapcevich	94 points
4	8	Simon Pilate	92 points
5	14	Alex de Alba	90 points
6	13	Rajah Caruth	84 points
7	50	Tobias Dauenhauer	82 points
8	46	Miguel Gomes	81 points
9	81	Justin Campbell	78 points
10	6	Diego Ortiz	77 points

BOX SCORE

• LAPS LEAD: Alon Day, 22 (9-30), Tobias Dauenhauer, 8 (1-8)
• HARD CHARGER: Alex De Alba (+17 spots)
• CAUTIONS: Zero for zero laps
• TIME OF RACE: 50 minutes, 21 seconds
• FASTEST LAP: Simon Pilate, Lap 2 (1:36.725 seconds)

2022 eNASCAR International iRacing Series Schedule

• 8th January 2022 – Homestead-Miami Speedway – 60 Laps
• 15th January 2022 – Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – 30 Laps
• 22nd January 2022 – Circuit Zolder – 30 Laps
• 29th January 2022 – Daytona International Speedway Road Course – 30 Laps
• 5th February 2022 – Phoenix Raceway – 60 Laps