The end of the 2021 World Championship season is finally upon us. Well, sort of, anyway. There’s still plenty of virtual racing to be had, but two of the biggest series on the iRacing platform are coming to a close this week.
The iRacing Rallycross World Championship Series Presented by Yokohama will conclude first on Wednesday evening. The series heads to the new Charlotte Motor Speedway Rallycross arena for what could be a slug fest for the title.
On Thursday, the Force Dynamics Dallara iRacing Grand Prix Championship wraps up their season-long conquest to determine the best Dallara IR-01 driver for the 2021 season. The Hungaroring will be the venue of choice to determine the open wheel championship.
As already mentioned, there are other World Championship level events to witness throughout the week on iRacing. We just saw the PESC Contender Series wrap up two weeks ago to determine the new drivers heading to the Porsche Tag Heuer Esports Supercup in 2022. The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series is also determining their roster currently with their own Contender Series on Tuesday nights.
A World Championship also exists at the top level of the iRacing dirt oval scene. The iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series started up their season on Monday night with the opening round at Volusia Speedway Park.
Blake Matjoulis made the jump from Late Models to Winged Sprints and took the opening round quite convincingly, leading all 35 laps in the main race from the pole position. This series extends into 2022, so for the most part, 2021 is over with this week.
IRXWC: CHAMPIONSHIP TO BE DECIDED AT CHARLOTTE
About three months ago, if you would have asked me about anything to do with Rallycross, I’d have likely shrugged it off. Now after nine weeks of high-action, bumper-to-bumper racing in the iRacing Rallycross World Championship Series Presented by Yokohama, I cannot wait to see how it turns out.
On one end, you’ve got the speedy Jon Robertson. He’s earned five poles this season, four of them all coming in-a-row. Each pole position nets six points. Winning the heat race will net another eight points. Robertson managed to earn max points entering the main on four occasions so far this season. Only once he managed a perfect night, scoring every possible point. He leads the battle entering Charlotte by six points.
The other end, you’ve got the SET Esports duo of Jonne Ollikainen and Tommi Hallman. While Hallman has the most wins on the season at three, his consistency hasn’t been quite up to the same level as Ollikainen, a two-time winner in 2021. Both have a mathematical shot at the title, but Ollikainen has the best shot only six points behind. Hallman sits 18 points back and would be eliminated if Robertson scored 12 of a possible 14 points in qualifying and the heat.
The battleground is Charlotte Motor Speedway, a new Rallycross track on iRacing as of 2021 Season 1. Charlotte finds itself on the iRX schedule for the first time ever this season. In the qualifying series earlier this year, three drivers now in the iRX World Championship found victory. Killian Dall’olmo, Quentin Dall’olmo, and Kevin Ellis Jr might have a stake in the final fight for 2021 in that case.
The race feed will be available with multiple options for different languages. The English broadcast will go off on the iRacing Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube pages. The Finnish feed can be viewed on Finnish Sim Racing Association (FISRA). A French version will be on BenjxMotors, and a Norwegian cast can be found on the Norwegian SimRacing Channel.
Tune in at 4:00 p.m. ET / 9:00 p.m. GMT to catch the action.
FDDIGPC: HUNGARORING HOSTS CHAMPIONSHIP FINALE
Sim racing fans got lucky in 2021. There was pure domination by Joshua Rogers in the Porsche Tag Heuer Esports Supercup, a thrilling title claimed by Keegan Leahy in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, and now two battles down to the wire after full seasons in both iRX and the Force Dynamics Dallara iRacing Grand Prix Championship.
The Dallara IR-01 championship has been nothing short of special all season long. From the pack-style racing with open-wheel beasts to the strategies employed all season, it’s only fitting that it’s as close as it is entering the Hungaroring finale on Thursday.
After surviving a misfire at Suzuka in qualifying, Peter Berryman retained the points lead with a third place finish. It was a third place behind Maarten van Loozenoord who won his sixth race of the season last week. The gap closed to two points between the two stars of the season. With the gap from first to second in a race result being four points, essentially if one of the two can win, they’ll also win the title.
Berryman only has two wins to van Loozenoord’s six. Regardless, it’s been sheer consistency which has kept him atop the standings for the majority of the season. It will also likely come down to the entirety of the teams that both are supported by. Berryman has the Apex Racing Team while van Loozenoord has R8G Esports at his disposal. At the end of the day, one can only hope it comes down to the two drivers.
Tune in live on Thursday at 2:00 p.m. ET / 7:00 p.m. GMT to watch and find out. The finale will take place on the iRacing social channels.
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