Sean Campbell has won again for Deltasport in the IVRA GT Sprint Series at Suzuka, coming under little pressure from his Division 1 rivals and bringing his championship-clinching moment ever closer. However, it wasn’t such an easy day for Prestanda NOMAD, who struggled as Division 2 and 3 leaders.
Qualifying started well for Sabelt Esports, who set the early mark, but it was Campbell who didn’t stop improving throughout the session while others reached their limit. In Division 2, Adam Wulkowicz was pushing the limits of normality with his session as he grasped 2nd place overall, putting a sizeable amount of cars between himself and his nearest Division 2 rival.
In Division 3, V-Racers were edged out by a relatively late Prestanda NOMAD lap. It didn’t last long though, as they collided with Delta V Racing in Turn 2, themselves having been ironically set off course by Prestanda NOMAD’s Division 2 Mercedes.
As they shared the front row, Division 1 and 2 leaders were able to get away well and they did briefly exchange positions, although Sean Campbell assumed the lead again pretty quickly. New Division 3 leaders V-Racers were holding on well, but nearly half an hour in, Nuno Costa had an accident at the Dunlop Curve, taking out a recovering MAG Performance Porsche, and giving Viraco E-Sports the lead in only their 2nd race of the season.
It didn’t last too long, as Echelon Simsport, fresh from a name change, overtook them not long later. Things would go from bad to worse for Prestanda NOMAD, as they were turned around out of the final corner by a Division 2 car that had joined the group due to a previous spin.
The pitstop phase was uneventful, and all leaders came out with at least 5 seconds of a lead, but the relative calmness would soon be shattered. Technical problems struck Vector Sim Racing, who were stranded to drivers’ left coming out of Spoon curve, bringing out the first and only Safety Car of the race.
With a lapped car and the Division 2 leader between himself and his nearest rival, Sean Campbell soon restored some of his lead on the restart. And while he was under a little threat from Satellite Racing, Florian Hoehn for GermanSimRacing was able to have a comfortable Division 2 win, and with it came the championship lead.
Division 3, however, was still very much up for grabs. Echelon Simsport took the restart at leaders, with Viraco E-Sports and Precision Racing Esports behind despite the #311 finding itself stuck on pit entrance about an hour earlier.
After less than 10 minutes, Nick McLaughlin had made his way into 2nd by passing Viraco E-Sports, and another 10 minutes later he was also past Spencer Reitsma for the lead. His run to the front of the field was complete very quickly, albeit aided by the late Safety Car.
That result has closed Precision Racing Esports to only 7 points behind the tied leaders of Rusty Spatulas and Prestanda NOMAD after the latter had a DNF on the day. The resounding victory for GermanSimRacing has put them in the Division 2 lead by 77 points.
Finally in Division 1, Sean Campbell can clinch the title at Monza next time out as he has a 149 point lead over Team Heusinkveld after only 5 races. It’ll be a while until we see the series return, as Round 6 comes in April, but it could be a momentous round for series leader Sean Campbell who has dominated the IVRA GT Sprint Series powered by Heusinkveld.