After four races in the 2022 D-BOX eNASCAR International iRacing Series presented by Digital Motorsports, Alon Day has claimed three wins in a row after another stunning performance at the Daytona Int’l Speedway road course. Similar to his performance at Mosport, Day started on the pole position, led every lap and won by nearly 14 seconds.
Now the only three-time winner in series history, and still the only winner with more than a single victory, Day was able to sweep the road course swing of tracks in the five race season. The first race took place at the Homestead-Miami Oval, and now to win the championship, Day will need to conquer the left turns of Phoenix Raceway.
“After Homestead, I knew if I wanted to fight for this championship, I would need to win all of the road course races,” Day said post-race. “Now I can say, ‘mission accomplished’… Now, I have to put some practice in for Phoenix and try to grab that championship.”
With another max points day, 120 points score alone from the road races, Day leads the standings at 137 points. The gap back to the former points leader Victor Barrales Jr is only five. Simon Pilate, Treyten Lapcevich, Alex de Alba, Rajah Caruth and Tobias Dauenhauer all have a mathematical shot as well, depending on how many drivers show up to the finale.
THREE PEAT FOR ALON DAY
The series returned to Daytona, marking the first repeat trip for the series since it began in 2021. These drivers would utilize the NASCAR Road layout on iRacing, that of which includes a Turn 13 and 14 chicane out of Oval Turn 4, just before pit road and the start-finish line.
With Day on the pole, the only chance the rest of the field had was to get him early in the going. Simon Pilate gave it his best effort in the opening laps. The de facto champion from last season, Pilate hasn’t had the same luck in this iteration of the series. Regardless, with starting second, this was possibly his best chance to make it back into virtual victory lane.
The push was on for the No. 8, but in his aggressiveness, the dreaded turtle curbs jumped out and bit him in the Le Mans Chicane after a few laps. Pilate was able to recover to finish in third at the end of it, but it wasn’t the result he was looking for. Paul Jouffreau, a driver looking for his first win in this series who also competes in EuroNASCAR, was able to capitalize and finish second.
There would be a pit stop around halfway, but once again, Day had the field covered. Even in pitting, Day never lost the lead and went on to lead every single lap en route to victory.
NEW POINTS LEADER ENTERING FINALE
The points lead has now changed hand twice in as many weeks. Victor Barrales Jr took it from Rajah Caruth last week, but this week, the curse befell him. Early in the going, when Pilate had his issues and started excavating the grass, Barrales was trying to give room so to avoid incident.
Enter Nick Sanchez, who returned to the series for the first time since he pulled over and quit at Homestead, Sanchez caught up to Barrales quickly and the two made contact, sending the No. 39 off track with heavy damage. Thankfully, Barrales was able to recover decently with utilizing the fast repair, but a seventh place finish when he could have had a fourth meant more points lost than he had hoped.
Other championship rivals also found themselves in dire situations. Caruth, who needed a solid finish to stay in the conversation, had trouble with Pinty’s driver Treyten Lapcevich in the Le Mans Chicane. He was able to recover, but wound up giving the spot to Pilate behind him a lot easier than he’d hoped as well.
As for Pilate, he’s third in the standings, just a single points ahead of Lapcevich in fourth. Both drivers still have a shot at a title if Day and Barrales have trouble in the desert next weekend. Tune into eNASCAR.com/live at Noon ET / 5 p.m. GMT on Saturday 5th February to see the epic conclusion of the eNASCAR International Series!
RACE #4 DAYTONA TOP 10 FINAL RESULTS
Pos. | No. | Name | Interval |
1 | 21 | Alon Day | 30 LAPS |
2 | 64 | Paul Jouffreau | +13.855 sec |
3 | 8 | Simon Pilate | +16.548 sec |
4 | 50 | Tobias Dauenhauer | +21.612 sec |
5 | 13 | Rajah Caruth | +27.957 sec |
6 | 20 | Treyten Lapcevich | +36.470 sec |
7 | 39 | Victor Barrales | +43.069 sec |
8 | 10 | Ulysse Delsaux | +43.660 sec |
9 | 14 | Alex de Alba | +44.921 sec |
10 | 23 | Federico Gutierrez | +46.091 sec |
TOP 10 POINTS STANDINGS AFTER RACE #4 – DAYTONA
Pos. | No. | Name | Points |
1 | 21 | Alon Day | 137 points |
2 | 39 | Victor Barrales Jr | 132 points |
3 | 8 | Simon Pilate | 126 points |
4 | 20 | Treyten Lapcevich | 125 points |
5 | 14 | Alex de Alba | 118 points |
6 | 13 | Rajah Caruth | 116 points |
7 | 50 | Tobias Dauenhauer | 115 points |
8 | 64 | Paul Jouffreau | 110 points |
9 | 46 | Miguel Gomes | 105 points |
10 | 81 | Justin Campbell | 104 points |
BOX SCORE
- LAPS LEAD: Alon Day, 30 (1-30)
- HARD CHARGER: Ulysse Delsaux (+12 spots)
- CAUTIONS: Zero for zero laps
- TIME OF RACE: 59 minutes, 22 seconds
- FASTEST LAP: Simon Pilate, Lap 16 (1:55.057 seconds)
2022 eNASCAR International iRacing Series Schedule
8th January 2022 – Homestead-Miami Speedway – 60 Laps15th January 2022 – Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – 30 Laps22nd January 2022 – Circuit Zolder – 30 Laps29th January 2022 – Daytona International Speedway Road Course – 30 Laps- 5th February 2022 – Phoenix Raceway – 60 Laps
Chat with the Community
Sign Up To CommentIt's completely Free