Excitement is building for the second round of the HyperX Clubsport Series as the circus travels to South America for the only time this season. It’s a circuit more commonly seen at the back end of a season, and very rarely used for multiclass racing, but Interlagos is a great venue no matter what the circumstances are.
Impulse Racing will be coming off the back of a well-deserved win at Fuji, crafted with expert pit strategy and solid driving too, however it remains to be seen what kind of pace they show up with this weekend. The only caution period of the season played into their hands perfectly last time, but will lightning strike twice for them?
On the unhappy side of things, RPC Esports couldn’t convert their pole position into a good finishing position last round, after completing only 18 laps. They will be looking for improvements, as will ATRS Esports who’s best result was only 8th after a promising start and even leading a portion of the race.
The Sport field was scattered completely by the caution at Fuji. Despite leading at the halfway stage and much of the race, RSR by Buttkicker finished down in 15th. And with McLaren taking a 1-2 finish in that race, they will be looking to bounce back with their Mercedes.
It will also be seen whether Porsche or Aston Martin get into the mix, given both manufacturers failed to secure a Top 10 at Fuji, however their pace so far hasn’t shown too many promising signs. There was a far more encouraging performance from Hugh Jass once again at the first round, showing that even when they don’t have the outright pace, they can race their way into a strong position, as they did last season.
The TCR race at Fuji was so crazy the race winner after one round is not the championship leader. Impulse Racing finished the race third, but after picking up maximum points at the halfway stage they lead by 4 points ahead of race winners Team Heusinkveld, and 2nd placed finishers RSR by Buttkicker.
Hyundai very much had the advantage at Fuji, and it seems that will continue as Honda and Audi struggle to keep up, only Full Send Racing’s #287 was in the Top 10 last time. Unlike some of the other categories, it’s fair to say that the best teams did eventually rise to the top in the first round, but it remains to be seen whether that will happen again at Interlagos.
The race could go two ways with lapped traffic. Here, seemingly, races are very clean without incident, or completely chaotic with not a moment’s rest. We’ll see which way this one turns out, but with well over 40 cars expected on the startline, it’ll be a huge challenge.
The last time IVRA visited Interlagos was in the GSI Endurance Series last season, where eventual champions Puresims Esports took maximum points at the halfway mark and the end, with a commanding win. The only team that won a category and have a car on the grid this weekend is Maniti Racing, after they took the win in GT3 Pro.
All of the action will be getting underway on Saturday, with another 700km of drama.