The inaugural trip to Barcelona for the iRacing Rallycross World Championship Presented by Yokohama turned into a second victory on the 2021 season for Tommi Hallman. The SET Esports driver bested the point leader Jon Robertson off of the start and never looked back.
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya found itself on the iRX schedule for the first time in series history. While Robertson looked to be an early favorite, he showed a slight sign of weakness in his heat. As he went on to hold the heat over Kevin Ellis Jr, he was not as successful in holding off Hallman.
Hallman managed to hold on to his Joker lap until the end. Robertson tried to do the undercut, but was held back by Hallman’s SET Esports teammate Jonne Ollikainen, albeit just slightly. Coming to the white flag, Hallman sped around Ollikainen before the line to ensure leading all 10 laps on the evening.
QUALIFYING AND HEATS
Robertson made history on Wednesday night by becoming the first driver in series history to collect four pole positions in a row. It started back at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and for each one, it’s a gain of six points.
The Top 6 in qualifying are paid out points. Hallman earned five points for second, Ollikainen was third, Luiz Núñez was fourth, Ellis Jr was fifth and Killian Dall’olmo was sixth.
As mentioned above, the first heat was far from perfect for Robertson, but he and Ellis Jr were able to move forward into the feature. Logitech G Altus Esports driver Beau Albert wasn’t even able to make the green flag after multiple incidents.
Hallman took the second heat handedly, but it was the battle for second that was intense. Dall’olmo wound up taking it, but it was at the expense of other hopefuls who found issues, such as Jarno Leskinen and Jake Robertson.
The third heat had Ollikainen on pole, but the defending series champion Yohann Harth flexed his muscle and took the lead on the start. Harth held on for the heat win while Ollikainen followed through into the feature.
The final heat was a mess from the start. Every single driver earned at least one incident point in the five lap sprint, most of those coming on the green. Núñez and Vicente Salas pulled away and were able to cruise into the feature.
C-MAIN AND B-MAIN LCQ’S
The first of two last chance races saw a ton of contact early as well. Josh Fox was able to get around it, but Matt Bussa wasn’t even able to make the start, crashing hard at the beginning of the dirt section.
Garrett Manes put up a valiant fight, but it would be Fox who would take the C-Main win to move on to the Feature race.
The second and final last chance qualifier was as intense and physical of a race as ever. Leskinen didn’t make one clean lap. Robertson was destroyed from the lead of the race. It became a boxing match for the transfer between Rasmus Tuominen and Jakob Rafoss.
Rafoss and Tuominen traded blows, both losing time to the rest of the field. Eventually, Tuominen won out and went on to win the B-Main and a place in the main event.
MAIN EVENT
Ten cars took off from the standing start with Robertson and Hallman side-by-side onto the main course. While Hallman took advantage, Tuominen, Núñez, Dall’olmo and Ellis Jr all found trouble.
The other six were able to get away clean, but it would be a battle between SET Esports and Subaru Motorsports USA once again. Robertson took the Joker early, but released behind Ollikainen. That was enough for Hallman to take the victory and lead every lap.
BARCELONA MAIN EVENT RESULTS
- 87 Tommi Hallman – SET Esports – 10 LAPS
- 86 Jon Robertson – Subaru Motorsports USA +0:00.939 sec
- 44 Jonne Ollikainen – SET Esports +0:02.955 sec
- 90 Yohann Harth – Subaru Motorsports USA +0:04.712 sec
- 55 Vicente Salas – Elliott Sadler Esports +0:07.914 sec
- 12 Josh Fox – Hansen Williams Esports +0:12.981 sec
- 14 Luis Núñez – Logitech G Altus Esports +0:13.275 sec
- 30 Kevin Ellis Jr – Rahal Letterman Lanagan Esports +0:14.182 sec
- 18 Killian Dall’olmo – SET Esports Team GRX +0:19.612 sec
- 22 Rasmus Tuominen – SET Esports Team GRX +0:22.102 sec
POINTS FOLLOWING RACE #5 – BARCELONA
- Jon Robertson – 128 points | 2 wins
- Jonne Ollikainen – 115 points | 1 win
- Tommi Hallman – 95 points | 2 wins
- Yohann Harth – 79 points
- Kevin Ellis Jr – 70 points
- Vicente Salas – 63 points
- Killian Dall’olmo – 51 points
- Luis Núñez – 41 points
- Jarno Leskinen – 41 points
- Jake Robertson – 40 points
NEXT WEEK
The iRacing Rallycross World Championship Presented by Yokohama heads to Lånkebanen Hell Rallycross for the sixth race of the nine race season next week.
The All-Stars at Barcelona put on a crazy performance with Pablo López taking the ultimate victory. GoProLopez was able to hold off Jamie Fluke and Zac Campbell for the victory.
Team Traxion had speed, but, well, we both had our share of issues throughout.
The Lånkebanen Hell Rallycross broadcast next week will be available with multiple options for different languages. The main feed in English 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 while a Norwegian cast can be found on the Norwegian SimRacing Channel.
Tune in at 4:00 pm ET, 9:00 pm BST to catch the action!
