American Theatre: Road America Steals the Show in Round 6
Road America was the venue for Round 6 of the Logitech G Pro Invitational Series, and it delivered something out of nothing for one of the most spectacular race finishes of the season thus far.
NASCAR-style slipstream games from the beginning of qualifying all the way to the chequered flag meant careful decision making was a necessity for a strong result. So who took the best shots when it mattered most?
Let’s find out in this round’s Race Review from Road America!
Check-ups and Track Positioning Birth Chaotic Qualifying
Tracks with such an emphasis on straight-line speed always create interesting open qualifying sessions. With slipstream support offering precious tenths of a second versus going it alone, drivers will go to great lengths to find a spot under a competitor's rear wing.
Trans Tasman Racing’s Josh Anderson led the 39-car strong field around for the first run of laps, but abandoned his lap after coming through the last corner. When Anderson swerved into the lane immediately after, Griffin Gardiner and Dylan Rudd of Chiefs ESC were left as the first cars to set valid laps.
Synergy Sim Racing would find themselves in trouble, first with Dylan Perera’s engine giving up on the downhill run to Turn 8; then Brenton Hobson getting loose and spinning at the exit of Turn 11. While Hobson was able to minimise the damage and get back to pit lane for a reset, Perera’s qualifying session would be over.

Drivers were on the limit in Qualifying
With the bulk of the field completing their first laps, Brady Meyers emerged quickest with a 2:09.480. He was joined at the top by some of the biggest names in the category with Madison Down, Jarrad Filsell and James Scott all within just a tenth of a second. Andrew Gilliam would cross the line slightly out of sync with the field to put his LOBS Camaro in provisional sixth position.
The excitement continued for spectators even on the field’s cooldown laps. When Orbit Drop Bear’s Tyson Broad jolted to the right suddenly, Glen Postlethwaite had no time to react on his run down into Turn 3. The cars would make heavy contact, with Broad sent firing into the wall on the left side, leaving him without a front clip. No penalties were handed out for the incident.
At the end of that same lap, Jake Moloney would be looking to complete his first timed lap of the afternoon, but was met with a tight cluster of cars in the last two corners. With just moments to decide which way to go, Moloney pointed toward the grass and was immediately out of control. Moloney would fire into the last corner desperate not to hit anyone, but would slam into Luke Rosella. Moloney received a 10-second post-race penalty for the incident.
With the last run of laps completed, Jarrad Filsell would eclipse the board to claim his third Playseat Pole Position of the season in dominant fashion – topping his teammate Andrew
Gilliam by almost two tenths. Josh Anderson would spoil the LOBS front row at the last possible moment, crossing the line to take second place 0.182s behind Filsell. Gilliam, Meyers, Scott, Down, Moloney, Gardiner, Rudd and Bourke would complete the top 10.

Filsell leads from the pole into Turn 1 on the opening lap
Rain Rumours Crumble Away for Race Start
Rain was essentially a promise in the lead up to this round, with test sessions throughout the week spitting out moderate to high strength precipitation numbers that would throw the field into turmoil had it arrived in time for the race start. But it was nowhere in sight on radars come the gridwalk; this race would be bone dry to the chequered flag barring any stopagges.
That made things a little easier for championship leader Jarrad Filsell, who got off the line beautifully to hold the lead down into Turn 1 over his LOBS teammate, Andrew Gilliam.
Despite the long straights and heavy braking zones opening up the chance for lunges, the field would slot into their respective places without much trouble for the first lap. Up the front, Josh Anderson, Brady Meyers, Madison Down and James Scott would follow the lead pair and begin to build a small gap to the pack of cars behind.
Some drivers would look to make ground early. In the first four laps, Kobi Williams would move up six places; Zach Rattray-White and Adam Briggs would gain four; and Ethan Grigg-Gault would climb three to break into the top 10.
Fuel save looked to be more important than track positioning for now, with Madison Down seen among many to be holding the clutch in throughout the bulk of the carousel in a bid to save precious time in pit lane.

The field scramble for track position on the opening lap
Settling Period Draws Out Mistakes
At this stage, the leaders had broken into two distinct groups. Filsell, Gilliam and Anderson would lead the way, with a small gap behind to the next battle pack in Meyers, Down and Scott. The gap between the two groups would grow to around five seconds by the end of the first stint.
Zach Rattray-White and Jacob O’Reilly would be among the first to pit with an early stop on Lap 10. No response was seen from any of the front runners, but most of the field would complete their first stop in the next four laps.
In the midst of the field shuffling would be an uncharacteristic mistake from Brady Meyers, who would loop his TTR Camaro at the last corner to drop to eighth place on Lap 13. Surprisingly, he would decide against taking his stop on the same lap.
Dylan Rudd would pinch the fastest lap on Lap 14 — but there was still no movement from the leaders. Filsell would pit on schedule at the end of Lap 17, with the cars behind managing an extra lap by sitting in the slipstream. Hayden Veld would speed in the pitlane, putting a good result in extreme doubt.
When Andrew Gilliam rejoined the racing surface, he would find himself just behind Filsell, with an important gap behind to Down and Anderson.
Mistakes shook multiple drivers at this point, with James Scott having a moment on the marbles of Turn 1 on Lap 19, and Brady Meyers at the Kink of Turn 11 on the same lap. Grigg-Gault would pounce at the chance to steal fifth place from Meyers following the mistake.
With 14 laps remaining, Filsell handed the lead over to his teammate Gilliam down into Turn 1. Filsell had effectively led the entire race up to this point, so this was likely a play for him to save fuel and reclaim the lead come the second pit stop.

James Scott tours the gravel trap at Turn 1
Calm Race Breaks Open!
Cars throughout the field would now complete their second and final stops of the night. Meyers would stop early with 12 to go, the bulk of the field would follow in the next lap or two, then the leaders would come in with eight to go.
Despite Filsell dropping under Gilliam’s rear wing for the second stint, he would emerge behind his teammate on the way out pit lane. Andrew Gilliam retained the race lead!
With just five laps remaining, the script looked easy to read for the end. But when Jacob O’Reilly was caught by an accidental pit maneuver from Brady Baldwin at the last corner and sent hauling into the barrier – spectators and drivers alike knew an exciting race finish was upon them. With O’Reilly’s engine no longer having a pulse, he would be stranded in the middle of the track. The Safety Car was deployed immediately.
Efficient pacing meant the Safety Car would return to the pitlane with two laps remaining. Gilliam would pull the trigger early and get the race underway at the penultimate corner.

Late race drama brings the Logitech G Safety Car on track with only a few laps remaining
Filsell would ride the bumper of Gilliam for the entirety of the first lap but would hold position. Fighting prior to the last lap would be a fruitless affair that would only lose the LOBS teammates precious time, so Filsell held out his attack until the run down to the braking zone of Turn 5.
It was nothing doing out of Turn 5 for Filsell, but strong traction on the run up the hill to the bridge made for another nail biting moment. Still though, no dice! Gilliam retained the race lead with only two key overtaking opportunities remaining on the lap – Turn 8 and Canada Corner.
The threat behind was monstrous, but Gilliam held on through both. Whether this was a team play from Filsell or not, it was certainly a show for onlookers with the LOBS pairing claiming a brilliant 1-2 finish. It was an important night for Gilliam, who jumped to second in the championship over Josh Anderson, who finished third. The remainder of the top 10 would follow with Madison Down, Wayne Bourke, Ethan Grigg-Gault, Griffin Gardiner, Brady Meyers, Emily Jones and Damon Woods.
Honourable Mentions!
Glen Postlethwaite and Tyson Broad were among the biggest movers in Wednesday night’s showdown, with both drivers moving up 14 and 15 places respectively. A fantastic result for the two drivers who came together in that strange qualifying incident. Dylan Perera was also on the move and picked up the OG Gear Hard Charger Award, salvaging a good result after his engine failure in Qualifying.
Vermillion eSports’ Wayne Bourke had an impressive result too, moving up into the top five from 10th on the grid to claim his best result of the season so far.
The Safety Car didn’t help Kurt Stenberg, who plummeted from his starting position with 45 seconds worth of post-race time penalties. He was accompanied by Jacob O’Reilly as the two biggest losers of the night with 19 places dropped each. Jake Moloney also had a rough afternoon, falling from 7th on the grid to 22nd at the chequered flag.
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by Harrison Lillas