Road to SimRacing Expo: Vazquez all but sure of a finals spot after strong VIR showing

Spaniard Aaron Vazquez took a pair of second places in round two of the Road to Sim Expo at Virginia International Raceway, thus earning the most points and a great chance of finishing in the top three after the final round.

Peter Zsombi and Marcell Morocz won the races, and with both starting the day in the top five, they will have a good shot too. 

Race 1

Vazquez was fastest in qualifying and would start race one alongside Zsombi. The two would battle hard in the tight first sector, but out the other side, the Hungarian would take the lead after a dive down the inside at turn three. 

Ryan Micallef led early in the AM class, but spun on lap three, handing the lead over to Jonas Hofstatter. He would battle with compatriot Leon Manin for eight laps thereafter, but the former would hold onto the race one victory by three tenths of a second. 

The battle for PRO honours was even more fierce, though. After losing the lead, Vazquez aimed to push himself and Zsombi clear of the rest of the group, which still numbered six by half distance.

That would soon change, as Jarno Koch and Matt Caruana came to blows in an incident where both drivers let their tempers get the better of them on the back straight, leaving two clear out front. Vazquez waited until the penultimate lap to strike, perhaps testing out his rival’s defensive skills, but this in turn allowed Balazs Palla and David Toth to catch up.

The Hungarian’s presence would come to cost Vazquez, because as he ran wide at Oak Tree corner, Palla got alongside straight away, effectively handing the race to Zsombi. Vasquez would at least fend off the others for second. 

Race 2

There was lots of work to do for all those involved in the race leading fight throughout race two, as the top 20 were reversed. Alessandro Porta, who won race two in round one, started on pole, with the delayed Jarno Koch alongside.

Unfortunately, Koch’s run at the front was just as short this time too, as into turn one, he was spun around and sent to the back, underlining his miserable evening. Marcell Morocz made quick progress to take the lead from Porta on lap two, and quickly ran out to an unassailable margin, even as Vasquez got into second place six laps later. 

Zsombi was much slower in making progress through the field and even got caught up in a small incident late on, eventually finishing 35^th. 

In AM, Ryan Micallef was leading and crashed from the lead for the second time in one night, retiring halfway through race two, and ending realistic hopes of a race three finish. Connor Franssen would take the win, with an impressive fifth-place finish overall, leaving the AM places up for grabs in the final round of the season. 

And it’s a short season at that, with just one round to go in four weeks’ time. It’s clear that the AM class has more unknowns going into that final round, but both classes’ top three positions are still wide open for those hoping to reach SimRacing Expo 2025 in Dortmund.