Baking Bowmanville causes havoc!
Apex Racing Academy iRacing Porsche Cup S3 R8 – Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
A baking hot Bowmanville, Ontario met the Apex Racing Academy Porsche Cup paddock for the penultimate round of a dramatic season. Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly known as Mosport) is Canada’s top permanent motor racing facility and presents a wonderfully old school challenge to car and driver. Swooping through the terrifying opening sectors, bravery and precision are equally rewarded. However, it is the fickle double apex right hander of Moss corner which exposes any blip in concentration.
Championship leader, Pascal Costa, continued his purple patch with another pole position in qualifying.
While many drivers struggled for grip on a blisteringly hot track surface, Costa pulled away confidently to an early lead in the sprint race. Throughout the race, Roger Kristiansen kept Costa under close surveillance. However, the Scandinavian star couldn’t get close enough to make a move on the Impulse racing star by the flag.
A spectacular battle for third place between Max Kessler and Lewis Ward went down to the wire. Eventually, Kessler edged out his British rival by a whisker at the line.
Once again, Max Wolf took control of the AM class battle and finished seventh overall.
Feature Race
For the thirty-minute feature race, a reverse grid shuffle placed AM class contender Paul Lange on pole position. Race one’s podium – Costa, Kristiansen, and Kessler – started at the wrong end of the top twenty.
Launching his Eibach Porsche cleanly off the line, Lange settled into an early lead. Meanwhile, a lengthy train led by Sam Fitzpatrick gave chase. However, one by one, drivers dropped off the scent of the leader with a succession of mistakes. Mostly, at the dastardly difficult Moss corner.
As Lange maintained his lead, race one Pascal Costa carved through the pack. After only four laps, the championship leader had ascended from twenty-first to eleventh. However, the further Costa climbed through the field, the stiffer the opposition became. Eventually, Costa couldn’t negotiate through the entire field and mount a challenge to Lange.
However, Lange’s lead was far from unassailable. A half spin on lap fourteen sent a shock through the cockpit of Lange’s Porsche. Nevertheless, the German ace steadied the ship and rebuilt his advantage.
Despite a couple of scares, Lange would eventually hang on for a maiden overall win in ARL competition. As an AM class, championship contender, the points haul awarded to the overall winner gives Lange a huge boost in the race for AM class honours. Heading into the final round at Road America, Lange holds an outside chance of overhauling Max Wolf in the race for the AM class crown.
After a superb duel, Simone Passoni and Sam Fitzpatrick completed the podium in second and third overall.
Post race
Paul Lange: “It was quite tiring! Overall though, it was a nice race.”
Max Wolf: “It was really difficult but good fair, clean racing. I really enjoyed it. It was really slippery, you had to be so smooth with your inputs.”
On the seventh of July, the Apex Racing Academy iRacing Porsche Cup reaches its conclusion. Tune in to live action on Apex Racing TV at 7pm GMT.