FR Americas Championship

Tire management plays into Dakota Dickerson’s win at Barber Motorsports Park

Round 4 replay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_dsvUT4ho0

Under the hot Alabama sun with track temperatures reaching 125 degrees, drivers with the best tire management strategy rose to the top in Round 4 of the Formula Regional Americas iRacing Invitational Championship at Barber Motorsports Park on Tuesday.

Reigning FR Americas champion Dakota Dickerson dominated the night, going lights to checkers in his first victory of the simulation season. Dickerson is the fourth driver to claim the checkered flag (preceded by Ben Waddell, Dario Cangialosi and Phillippe Denes) in the ultra-competitive FR Americas iRacing Invitational Championship.

Championship guest drivers locked up the last two spots on the podium. eSeries newcomer Darius Trinka crossed the stripe nearly eight and a half seconds after Dickerson to take second followed by  Flinn Lazier in third, his second top-three finish of the series.

“I did some practice race runs earlier in the week with Ben (Waddell), knowing how important qualifying was,” explained Dickerson. “The most important part of the race was snagging pole and then managing my tires. I tried to keep my tires nice and cool and once I saw Phil (Denes) go off track it was just a matter of keeping pace. I just have to continue to keep consistent just like the real championship. Phil is going to be the guy to beat based of pace, so I have some work to do between now and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.”

In qualifying, Dickerson jumped to the top of the times early in the swift 10-minute session to take pole position, edging out SCCA Pro iRacing Fan League qualifier Simon Sikes by .113-seconds. Denes and FR Americas driver Jacob Abel started from Row 2 with Trinka and Linus Lundqvist in Row 3.

Dickerson got the jump off the line and pulled a sizeable gap through the first half of the race, but Round 3 winner Denes started to chip away at Dickerson’s lead with his proven fast pace. On his way to setting the fastest lap of the race (1:16.471-seconds), Denes threatening to overtake the point, made an unforced error that caused him to spin out of second place and forced him to the pits.

After taking over second-place following Denes’ wreck, Sikes shunted off track as he lost control and position, with Abel suffering a similar fate that cost him the race. Trinka capitalized on other drivers’ misfortunes as he made his way up through the field to take second, but didn’t have enough tires left to close the gap to challenge Dickerson in first. 

“It was a pleasure racing with these guys tonight, it was fun, clean racing,” said Trinka. “Getting a good qualifying in is key on this track. Tonight was all about surviving, added with a little bit of luck to finish in second.”

Starting from eighth, Lazier came from even further back in the 42-car field to complete the podium. The SCCA National champion nearly lost out on his second podium finish of the series to FR Americas driver John Paul Southern Jr. On the penultimate lap, Southern challenged from the inside entering the Roller Coaster to take second. Southern struggling to find grip was shuffled back to fourth as a patient Lazier paid back the favor on the final lap with an inside pass at Charlotte’s Web.

“It was a very fun race,” said Lazier. “I have to thank the Spark and Last Lap Motorsports guys that I work with for spotting for me, which helped me out on the mental side. JP (Southern) and Blake (Upton) were closing in on me pretty quick there at the end. I realized my brake on my rig was stuck in place so once I fixed that I started to clear them.”

With Blake Upton pressuring from behind, Southern Jr was forced to shift his focus from retaking third to holding onto fourth. The pair of FR Americas pilots battled to the finish line, with Southern winning the battle for fourth.

Sikes recovered from his early-race incident to finish sixth with Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda team owner Jonathan Scarallo finishing seventh in his first iRacing event. Round 1 winner Ben Waddell, Denes and  Formula Pro USA Western Championships F4 title holder Marco Kacic rounded out the top 10.

In his first FR Americas iRacing Invitational Championship race, Jackson Lee charged from a 31^st-place start to finish just outside the top 10 in 11th. With an additional 14 position advances in Round 4, FR Americas rookie Jordan Missig leads the Sabelt Hard Charger season battle with a total of 51 advances. The Sabelt Hard Charger contingency prize pack, complete with a Sabelt product certificate, will be awarded to the driver with the most position advances in the seven-race iRacing championship

The FR Americas iRacing Invitational Champion will win a set of Hankook Tires while the Vice Champion will be presented with a 90-day virtual training package from PitFit Training. Third overall in points will receive an Omologato watch.

The top-three competitors in each event will be awarded with official Druck FR Americas merchandise to sport during the 2020 season.

The FR Americas iRacing Invitational Championship returns to action on Tuesday, April 21, with a mix of new and returning drivers. Round 5 will be held at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park with live streaming coverage on the series YouTube and Twitch channels sponsored by Omologato Watches starting at 7:10 p.m. Eastern.

The event schedule will include one 10-minute practice, one 10-minute qualifying and one 30-minute race with points following the FIA FR system. The championship will be calculated based on the top six results (allowing one race to be dropped).

 Round 4 replay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_dsvUT4ho0

FR Americas iRacing Invitational Championship Schedule

March 24- Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta coverage begins at 7pm E.T.

March 31- Circuit of The Americas coverage begins at 7pm E.T.

April 7- Virginia International Raceway coverage begins at 7:10 pm E.T.

April 14- Barber Motorsports Park coverage begins at 7:10 pm E.T.

April 21- Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (held in place of Trois-Rivières) coverage begins at 7:10pm E.T.

April 28- Sebring International Raceway coverage begins at 7:10 pm E.T.

May 5- Season Finale Fans Choice (voting held on @framericas Instagram) coverage begins at 7:10 pm E.T.

Round 4 Results

Championship Standings