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Classic IndyCar Series iRacing Sonoma Race Report

The relentless top class racing of the Classic IndyCar Series in iRacing produced a dominant display for victory at Sonoma. Here we have the full race report.

With the Classic IndyCar Series in iRacing on the home stretch for the season, every moment on track is vital to secure the championship or highest standings for some drivers. How did the race at Sonoma play out for the drivers?

Throughout the whole season, it seems to have left off from the finale of 2020, you would think the championship was still up for grabs at round 1 of 2021.

Take a look at how the 2021 season has gone and it is like a wild rollercoaster, proof that sim racing produces edge of the seat entertainment and high quality racing.

Robert Grosser Founder of CIS has all the official information

“For the first time since 2017 Classic Indycar Series visited Sonoma Raceway for Round 8 of the 2021 Season. Joshua Chin (Team Chimera) secured pole position with a gap of 0.4 seconds over Alex Crawford (independent) who gave his series debut two weeks ago at Michigan.

Ethan Agan (SRC) qualified 3rd just ahead of series newcomer Julien Altena (Velocity Online Racing). With Tuomas Mustanen (Iconic Motorsports) in P7 we saw another strong debutant. Championship leader Lucas Laville (Vortex Simracing) qualified P9.

The stage was set for an interesting race, with 3 drivers serving rear-of-grid penalties: Andrew Wood (Team Chimera), Willi Schwabauer (Iconic Motorsports) and Dave Lodl (independent).

Chin had a good start and went off into the horizon. This was pretty much the last time, his competition was going to see him. Behind him though, some interesting battles were developing.

The duo of Crawford and Altena decided to stay together for almost the entire race, trading positions back and forth however in the end it was Altena to get the upper hand.

Behind them, it was Grosser (Vortex Simracing) and Joon (independent), who battled for more than half the distance. Only after the second pit stop the tandem got split and Joon started to fall back and finally had to give up after a crash.

Schwabauer managed to storm through the field, on a track where passing is next to impossible, however he then got stuck behind Laville, who gave him a fight for his money.

Once Schwabauer found a way past Laville, he manged to catch up with Grosser to challenge him for P5. Behind the two, Laville was patiently watching them, while Mustanen slowly closed the gap to that group.

With only a few laps to go, Schwabauer finally managed to pass Grosser to secure P5!

And what about Agan? He had a very quiet race, managing to keep P2 for the entire race. Only on the very last lap he was coming close to Chin for the first time after the race went green, however this time it was not for position.

In the final turn of the final lap, Chin went by which meant that he had just lapped the entire field with the chequered flag already waiting for him!

Total domination on Chin’s end, and some well needed points to catch up with Laville and Agan in the points standings. Agan on the other hand took over the points lead for the first time since Round 3, when he lost it to Laville.

Schwabauer is now 4th in the points standings but still in contention for the title.

With 4 races remaining, the stage is set for maybe a 4-way-battle for the championship. At least all drivers up there in the standings have shown, that they are very capable of winning races and scoring big points.

In the team standings, Team Chimera was able to close the gap to Vortex Simracing by 21 points, however still sitting 115 points behind them. Iconic Motorsports is holding P3, another 41 points behind Team Chimera.

You can watch all the action from Sonoma on ESTV this Sunday 18:00 GMT!

About iRacing

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Darren Buckner

Darren Buckner

Darren became a member of Simrace247 in January 2021 and has been a valuable addition to the platform ever since. He began his journey as an Editor and has progressed to the position of Editor in Chief, owing to his unwavering commitment and hard work. With his profound interest in motorsport and gaming, Darren is passionate about sharing news and exceptional content with like-minded people worldwide.View Author posts