With the series continuing its pseudo double header in the north-eastern corner of the US, drivers returned to the infamously challenging Belle-Isle Grand Prix street circuit for the first of two ‘Super Sprint’ rounds in the exhilarating 12-round calendar.

Here’s the rundown of all the action from the streets of Detroit in Round 4 of the Logitech G Pro Invitational Series!

A quick freshen-up on the format

The Super Sprint race format for this season provides a unique challenge for the drivers, rewarding consistent driving across multiple sessions where rhythm can be hard to establish.

For each of the two races in this format, the grid is set by its own qualifying session prior to each race; that means no reverse grid, and importantly a second chance for drivers that may have had poor fortune in the first half of the afternoon.

To ensure there is enough space on track – particularly here in Detroit where open track is quite the precious commodity – each qualifying session is split into two groups that are selected by splitting the championship order in half, with the bottom half going first. Each group gets 10 minutes to set the fastest laps they can.

Race 1 is a 16-lap sprint with effectively no chance of a pitstop despite a 40% fuel cap; the race winner will score 67 points. Race 2 is a slightly longer 24 laps with a pitstop more than likely, regardless of a mandatory stop not being enforced; the race winner here will score 133 points.

Pit Lane Opens – Qualifying for Race 1 Begins!

The bottom half of the championship order took to the track for the first time of the afternoon, and in usual V8Pro fashion, hairwidths separated the running order.

It was Wayne Bourke and Jobe Stewart who tussled for provisional pole, with Bourke prevailing for Vermillion eSports over the proven real-world racer by just 0.046s.

Behind Bourke would lie four consecutive Evolution Racing Team cars in Jobe Stewart, Matthew Bowler, Ian Ford and Lachlan Caple. Caple would bring his session to an early halt when his engine went bang on the run down to Turn 3.

Just 0.635s would separate the 20-car Group 1 at the conclusion of their session.

Group 2 was defined by delivering when it mattered, a trait held only by the very best in the business. There are layers of mental games going on when times are already on the board at a place where track position is so crucial.

It appeared to be the usual script in the first half of the session, with championship leader Jarrad Filsell launching his LOBS Camaro onto the top step with his first lap of the night. Josh Anderson followed closely, trailing by less than half a tenth.

Brady Meyers made hearts drop when he jumped to the top over Filsell by three hundredths – but it was short lived when Filsell put the nail in the coffin to claim provisional pole by a tenth just moments later. James Scott also made a late appearance when he jumped to second place, chipping the gap to Filsell down by fractions.

With Andrew Gilliam also improving on his last lap to put him in fourth, Josh Anderson – who currently sits second in the championship – found himself dropping to the third row of the grid.

Green Flag Drops for Race 1!

It was a very clean start for the top half of the field; most notably within the top 10 where the running order remained steadfast from qualifying.

There was a stark contrast down the back though, with a number of cars involved in an incident that began with heavy contact between Brian Borg and Sebastian Varndell on the run down to Turn 3. Brian Borg was also involved in a separate incident with Glen Postlethwaite that saw the Racekraft Simulations driver pointing the wrong way on the exit of the same corner.

Lap 1 collisions didn’t stop in the first sector, with a number of cars also picking up damage on the entry of the technical middle sector. That all started when Jack Widdas lost control at the entry of Turn 7, causing trailing cars to check-up at very short notice.

Dylan Perera tempted the idea of a safety car when he made monstrous contact with the barrier before Turn 6. The collision left the car with significant damage that somehow avoided the threshold required for a mechanical black flag. Had his engine blown, it almost certainly would have drawn out a Safety Car for the first time this season … no foreshadowing there …

Tension Builds as Race 1 Draws to a Close

The race appeared to be settling at the front with six laps to go, but Kody Deith had other plans — kicking off his late push into the top ten with a launch down the inside of Jobe Stewart at Turn 11. With Stewart left on the marbles for the remainder of the last sector, Zach Rattray-White took the opportunity to follow his Eclipse Simsport teammate through.

That was the catalyst for the most exhilarating battle of the race that wouldn’t finish for another three quarters of a lap. Jobe Stewart would find his way up the road, but Ethan Grigg-Gault and Jake Maloney would trade paint all the way to the back straight. That gave 9INE5IVE Simsports’ Ric Kuznetsov enough time to not only catch the squabbling pair, but pass them at Turn 7 as well!

Meanwhile up the road, Jarrad Filsell stormed to his fourth consecutive victory of the season, crossing the line three seconds ahead of his former teammate James Scott – who now races for

Chiefs ESC. Brady Meyers rounded out the podium in third for Trans Tasman Racing, securing both his personal best result of the season and the team’s first podium of the year.

Qualifying Phase 2 Offers Second Chance

Identical to the first qualifying session, Group 1 peeled out onto the track once again in a fresh server to settle their place on the grid – this time for Race 2.

Hayden Veld took provisional pole over Ryan Jones by 0.072s in Group 1, with the remainder of the top 10 separated by less than four tenths.

In Group 2, Luke Rosella would launch to the top of the board over Jarrad Filsell by about half a tenth. He would hold that place until the session’s dying stages, where a number of improvements saw the entire field shaken up.

Andrew Gilliam would steal the show with a monstrous lap that secured him his first pole position of the season. He would be accompanied by his championship-leading teammate Jarrad Filsell on the front row, with the LOBS takeover also supported by Luke Rosella on the second row in fourth. Griffin Gardiner would be attempting to hold down the fort for Chiefs ESC in third.

Chaos? Try Pandemonium – Green Flag in Race 2!

The beginning of Race 2 was much the same as Race 1. The leaders got away unharmed, but the train of cars behind was ridden with entropy. That started with Ric Kunzetsov being squished against the pit entry fence by Wayne Bourke on the run through Turn 1, leaving the 9INE5IVE driver with significant damage and a drop all the way down the order.

At Turn 3, the ERT Mustang of Ethan Grigg-Gault took to the escape road. Shortly after, nine cars entered the same corner within the same 20-odd meters. That resulted in Vermillion’s Andre Yousiff being guided into the barrier, and others escaping with battered panel work. Dylan O’Shea and Bryan Borg were sprawled across the track at the exit of Turn 6, with Yousiff narrowly managing to avoid the two cars after arriving at the scene late.

Buckle up ladies and gentlemen; because when an incident in the last sector on Lap 2 saw Jordan Ross, Tyson Broad and Brady Baldwin unable to continue on, it brought out ….

The First Safety Car of 2025!

At this stage, teams were split on the idea of pitting. There was no mandatory stop to be served, but you had to get some fuel in the car at some point to make it home. Given how early it was, stopping this early had only minor gains. You could make it on paper, but it would require heavy fuel saving all the way to the chequered flag.

TTR had faith in the idea with a handful of their entries opting for the fuel splash, but the leaders prioritised track position and stayed out.

Things were civilised on the restart with the field settling into a train. With just half the race remaining, the LOBS pairing of Andrew Gilliam and Jarrad Filsell were slowly building a gap to the rest of the field… but there was one more chapter left in this story.

Battles Heat up on Run Home!

On lap 16, the lead pair tore into the lane. With four other front running cars following suit, Brady Meyers took the race lead. At this stage, Meyers would need to continue saving as he was to make it to the end, while his adversaries could push all the way to the end.

In a normal situation with the gap that stood from Meyers to Gilliam, the fuel saver doesn’t win. But this was not a normal situation.

Between Gilliam and Meyers stood none other than Madison Down. In a Sergio Perez Abu Dhabi 2021-style affair, Madison placed his car surgically to slow down the LOBS duo for as long as he could. At every major braking zone for all of lap 17, Gilliam attempted a pass on Meyers that simultaneously opened the door for Filsell – but the championship leader waited.

By the penultimate corner, Gilliam’s tyre temperatures were searing. That allowed Filsell to slide down the inside and take what was realistically P2 on the road, and it would be his turn to try and pass the fuel-saving Madison Down.

The Crescendo of Round 4

This is it. This is Supercars action in all of its glory. Fuel savers versus pushers, championship contenders fending off places, anyone trying to knock the championship leader off their perch as the solitary race winner of every race thus far.

At this stage, Madison Down was going as far to fuel save as pulling in the clutch whenever he could. With Filsell and Gilliam already losing three seconds in this two-lap affair with Down, something had to give.

Filsell nudged Down off his line at the exit of Turn 7, and when the TTR veteran attempted to hold his ground through the narrow right hander of Turn 8, the two stars made contact. When Filsell began to lose traction, he kept the throttle on to try and use Down as a way to straighten back up. But with Gilliam claiming the left-most side of the track to force a three-wide situation, all of that force was sent straight back through to Filsell.

Down and Filsell would guide each other into the fence on the right side, tumbling down the order in dramatic fashion as several cars took the opportunity for free places. This was now Brady Meyers’ race to lose. And while Gilliam would claim those two spots instantly, he no longer had the slipstream required to get to the end on his strategy – Gilliam short-fueled to retain his lead over his teammate.

Cinematic Victory for Meyers as Tank Runs Dry

The spotlight now fell on TTR’s Brady Meyers with 2 laps to go. After the calamity of a race that Gilliam and Filsell had, Luke Rosella was now the leading LOBS car tasked with passing Meyers for the race lead.

The gap was closing sector by sector, corner by corner. With the white flag waving, Meyers was still profusely lifting and coasting. Rounding the last corner, the TTR wheeler had done it.

His car may have been out of fuel, but he had just made history in the Logitech G Pro Invitational Series; he became the first driver other than Jarrad Filsell to win a race in 2025.

There were a number of penalties that shook up the order, including one for Rosella that knocked him from second all the way down to eighth. With that, Josh Anderson was next in line on the road to claim second – a crucial swing in the championship story for Anderson, with the gap now just 78 points to Filsell. Griffin Gardiner rounded out the podium for Chiefs ESC in third.

The remainder of the top 10 flowed as James Scott, Andrew Gilliam, Zach Rattray-White, Matthew Bowler, Luke Rosella, Hayden Veld and Kody Deith.