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iRacing Off-Road: Connor Barry claims inaugural 2022 iORCS championship

The final round of the inaugural iRacing Off-Road Championship Series season took to Crandon on Wednesday where Connor Barry took the title.

iRacing Off-Road: Connor Barry claims inaugural 2022 iORCS championship

After eight straight weeks of top level off-road competition, Connor Barry has taken the crown as the 2022 iRacing Off-Road Championship Series Champion on Wednesday night (10th August 2022).

Coming into the doubleheader finale at Crandon International Raceway, Barry held an advantage of 14 points over Keaton Swane after keeping things close at Bark River. After the first race, Barry extended that lead to 27 points. The final tally showed Barry as the champion by 25 points at night’s end.

Neither Barry or Swane would find victory lane in the races though, as Killian Dall’olmo scored his second win in a row in the first race. The second race went to the pole sitter on the night, Cam Pedersen, who beat Jakob Rafoss at the line to score his series-high fourth win of 2022.

The All-Stars also finished up their season on Wednesday night with the Beetles. Zachary Drapkin took the first win and WesTheMess88 scored the final race win of the season. The points lead at the end of the night was tied, however, with Luke Knupp owning a tie-breaker over Drapkin by having more wins.

RACE #15: KILLIAN DALL’OLMO GETS TWO-IN-A-ROW

iRacing Off-Road: Connor Barry claims inaugural 2022 iORCS championship

Pedersen was the fastest in qualifying and took the top prize of five bonus points. Rafoss, Barry, Swane and Josh Edmundson rounded out the Top 5 and also scored points before the racing got underway. The invert wasn’t as big of a downside this week with the land rush start, trucks starting 10 wide up front.

Even so, having the top spot on the grid meant the best position into Turn 1, which allowed Christopher Plumley access to the top spot in the early going. Searching for his first win of the season, Plumley led a pack of other hungry trucks also looking to cap off the season on a high note.

The Dall’olmos were ruthless, Killian looking to take his second win of the season and in a row and Quentin looking for his first career and a boost towards what has been a very rocky season.

iRacing Off-Road: Connor Barry claims inaugural 2022 iORCS championship

Plumley plummeted down the order as the duo Dall’olmos moved into the top two spots. Barry squeezed his way around into the third and final place on the podium.

Barry gave a few looks inside but kept his distance. Quentin kept Killian honest, but at the end of the 10 lap shootout, the Logitech G Altus Esports driver was celebrating a second straight victory.

CRANDON RACE #15 – TOP 10 RESULTS:

POSTRUCK #DRIVER NAMEINT.POINTSAGG. POINTS
118Killian Dall’olmo10 LAPS5050
222Quentin Dall’olmo+0.255 sec4848
32Connor Barry+0.763 sec4649
458Josh Edmundson+1.240 sec4445
536Christopher Plumley+1.677 sec4242
611Connor Parise+2.413 sec4040
748Cam Pedersen+2.927 sec3843
813Jakob Rafoss+3.511 sec3640
921Keaton Swane+4.974 sec3436
1091Félix Roy+5.034 sec3232

RACE #16: PEDERSEN BOOKENDS SEASON WITH FOURTH WIN

iRacing Off-Road: Connor Barry claims inaugural 2022 iORCS championship

It was a season of what-ifs for the most-winningest driver in the series entering the evening. Pedersen had three wins while the most anyone else had was two. Despite the wins lead, Pedersen also owned a number of DNFs and misfortunes that saw him down in eighth in the points entering Crandon.

After the land rush start, Rafoss was able to come out on top with Pedersen in tow. The two pulled away from the field as the battle for the rest was on behind them.

Félix Roy had his hands full with Tommi Hallman for the third position most of the race. The duo of yellow and red trucks went at it enough for the battle for the lead to become insurmountable.

iRacing Off-Road: Connor Barry claims inaugural 2022 iORCS championship

Meanwhile, Barry found a few more issues than he was hoping for in his quest to take the title. He and Swane ran in fifth and sixth with a 13th place or better being the only necessity on Barry’s mind.

Up front, Pedersen was able to take the lead and hold off Rafoss. Pedersen opened the season with a victory at Crandon and bookended it with another win at the same course, his fourth of the season.

CRANDON RACE #16 – TOP 10 RESULTS:

POSTRUCK #DRIVER NAMEINT.POINTSAGG. POINTS
148Cam Pedersen10 LAPS5093
213Jakob Rafoss+0.105 secs4888
391Félix Roy+3.465 secs4678
487Tommi Hallman+5.131 secs4474
521Keaton Swane+5.262 secs4278
62Connor Barry+5.587 secs4089
711Connor Parise+7.522 secs3878
812Josh Fox+7.825 secs3658
958Josh Edmundson+8.603 secs3479
1088Keith Jeffery+10.334 secs3256

CONNOR BARRY BESTS KEATON SWANE FOR 2022 TITLE

iRacing Off-Road: Connor Barry claims inaugural 2022 iORCS championship

While the battles for the wins were intense in both races, all eyes were on the duo of Barry and Swane.

In the first race, Barry got away clean while Swane struggled in the midpack. At one point, Swane wasn’t even in the top half of the field after the land rush start saw him struggle for real estate.

Swane was able to recover to a ninth place finish, but Barry was well ahead and banking points for the finale. Every position is two points, and Barry found himself crossing the line in third. The gap had already swung a point in qualifying. After the penultimate race, the gap was up to 27 points.

iRacing Off-Road: Connor Barry claims inaugural 2022 iORCS championship

The second race of the night, the finale to the entire season, was not as clean as Barry would have hoped. All he needed for a clinch, no matter what Swane did, was a 13th place finish or better.

Swane got the clean start on this land rush. Barry was mired in traffic, bouncing off of other competitors left and right on the opening turns of the first lap. Eventually, Barry’s battered Pro 4 found his way to Swane’s back bumper. They finished fifth and sixth, and that was more than enough for Barry to win.

2022 IRACING OFF-ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES FINAL TOP 12 STANDINGS:

POSTRUCK #DRIVER NAMEPOINTSWINST5’sT10’s
12Connor Barry722 (—)21415
221Keaton Swane697 (-25)21116
391Félix Roy629 (-93)2714
458Josh Edmundson619 (-103)0913
518Killian Dall’olmo610 (-112)2713
611Connor Parise568 (-154)0212
748Cameron Pedersen533 (-189)4711
836Christopher Plumley491 (-231)0211
9112Alex A Bergeron459 (-263)2510
1013Jakob Rafoss458 (-264)148
116Brandyn Proudfoot456 (-266)017
1212Josh Fox431 (-291)127

ALL STARS: LUKE KNUPP, ZACHARY DRAPKIN TIE FOR TITLE

iRacing Off-Road: Connor Barry claims inaugural 2022 iORCS championship

The All-Stars wrapped up their season on Wednesday with a Beetle battle at Crandon before the Championship stars went to war.

Land rush starts were also in play for the All-Stars, and while there are a ton of talented drivers in the All-Star field, for most of them, dirt off-road racing isn’t their strong suit.

Zach Knowles was able to get a clean start and took the lead early as Zachary Drapkin followed closely behind. On the final lap, the two made contact, allowing Drapkin to take his fifth win of the season, two shy of Luke Knupp should the two tie after the finale.

iRacing Off-Road: Connor Barry claims inaugural 2022 iORCS championship

They did in fact tie, but not before another crazy land rush start that completely shook up the standings early on.

Both Drapkin and Knupp found themselves spinning uncontrollably in the first turn, Knupp recovering first as Drapkin struggled to get pointed the right way.

Up front, RynoGT4 and Tyler Maxson found themselves side-by-side for the lead for a few laps before coming together and spinning out.

iRacing Off-Road: Connor Barry claims inaugural 2022 iORCS championship

This allowed WesTheMess88 to take the lead and ultimately score his first win in the series to cap off the exciting season. Knupp managed to recover to third while Drapkin wound up seventh.

After factoring in the drops, the points were finalized as a tie for the top spot between Knupp and Drapkin. After messaging with Series Director Chris Leone post-race, the tie breaker will go to the driver with more wins on the season. Knupp had seven of the 16 races won while Drapkin scores five.

ALL-STARS FINAL STANDINGS AFTER CRANDON RACE #16:

POSCAR #DRIVER NAMEWINSPOINTSR15R16
T-129Luke Knupp75784th3rd
T-156Zachary Drapkin55781st7th
366Blake Reynolds2484DNSDNS
403Keenan Kusan (Aeroteq)045614th15th
585Mikey Lawrence045417th6th
T-672Trever Teal043410th10th
T-691Ryan Burton (RynoGT4)04349th5th
8777Adam Briggs04282nd12th
93Eliott Watson0426DNSDNS
1010Brendan Lichtenberg04008th17th
1188Wes Graham (WesTheMess88)13926th1st
1299Michael Cosey Jr (WindVOW8820)03685th11th
Tyler Hudson – Winner at Wild Horse Pass Race #4

RELEGATION AND LOOK AHEAD AT 2023

iRacing Off-Road: Connor Barry claims inaugural 2022 iORCS championship

With Barry scoring the title in thrilling fashion, now the series will look ahead towards getting ready for a possible 2023 season. Should it happen, the Top 12 drivers in the final standings will be kept and the bottom 12 will move into relegation.

The relegated drivers will then face off against the up-and-coming off-road racers looking to take a spot in the next season.

This inaugural season came and went in a flash, completing 16 races in eight weeks in less than two months time. We may not hear about the next season for quite a while, but it is hoped to return as the series provided top-notch action all season long.

2022 iRACING OFF-ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES SCHEDULE

WeekDateTrackRace 1Race 2ALL STARS
122 JuneCrandon International Raceway – Full1010PRO 4
229 JuneWild Horse Pass Motorsports Park1616PRO 2 LITE
306 JulyWild West Motorsports Park1616PRO 4
413 JulyBark River International Raceway1111PRO 2 LITE
520 JulyWild Horse Pass Motorsports Park1616BEETLE LITE
627 JulyWild West Motorsports Park1616PRO 2 LITE
703 AugustBark River International Raceway1111PRO 4
810 AugustCrandon International Raceway – Full1010BEETLE LITE