Road America in Elkhart Lake Wisconsin set the stage for 280 kilometres of racing action.

There’s been so much going on in the background around more team changes, allegiances, colour and sponsor changes that I got the feeling the drivers just wanted the opportunity to just turn laps and focus on the driving.

Griffin Gardiner would move teams, make changes and show that it was absolutely worth the work. Pole position in his debut in new colours at Lobs Esports. Teammates James Scott and Jarrad Filsell would round out a 1-2-3 result for the team.

One driver in particular who had a focus on this round was Hayden Veld. His driver bio included the note that he had picked this race to be his focal point of the season to be in 27th place at the drop of the chequered flag of Road America.

The big key to qualifying was that it was a morning session. As time ticked on through qualifying the peak pace had come out of the track, and it was down in large part to the runs drivers got done to start the session.

Synergy Sim Racing looked good on qualifying form and looked to put a number of their drivers up the field. Fawzan El-Nabi would qualify 5th, Tom Freer 10th, Jordan Ross in 18th would be the stand outs. Adam Briggs (22nd) mentioned how well the team looked during the Gamesmen Grid Walk and also how important strategy and not being isolated would be to the race.

With lights out, immediately came the drama! Before making it to the first turn, Griffin Gardiner nearly stalled the car and had major contact with Marcello Rivera. Both would be majorly impacted with damage and be relegated to a night of trying to take what was left on the table. They would begin to slide through the field nearly immediately, and only through the grace of a spread field and a tow hold on to the spots they held. Marcello Rivera would immediately fall to 15th and Gardiner would try and resurrect his night from slightly high in 10th.

Big gainer inside the top 10 from the opening lap would be defending champion Madison Down. 9th to start, made 3 spots in the opening corners and would settle into 6th for the first stanza.

The next period of the race would be defined by the front of the pack settling themselves into full on save mode, the mid pack trying to grab spots and save, and the rear of the field trying to get a lot more aggressive to bring themselves into contention.

Jake Moloney started out of 35th, due to failing to set a valid qualifying lap. Within the first 10 laps he had driven his way to 21st and would continue picking cars off as the race progressed.

The first stops would begin from the end of lap 12, with the bulk of the field running slightly longer on the first stop looking to carry their tires deeper into the race. The bulk of the field would make their way down to the lane by the end of lap 20, with only Jarrad Filsell, Madison Down and Andrew Youssif102 going longer at the front of the field.

The next stint would be about playing your strategy and finding the window to drop into the lane with a very wide variety of strategies in the mix.

Quite a few drivers had opted for lighter, more agile cars they could make moves with for this segment of the race. Brady Meyers, Ethan Grigg-Gault and Fawzan El-Nabi chief among them, whilst the bulk of the drivers went with a full tank, and some split the difference in the middle.

Jake Moloney carried a lot of pace and ability to overtake up until just prior to the last pit stop where drama caused his night to end early. He ran as high as 16th before the first stop, and drama after the second stop ended his night from 22nd.

Final stops for the leading group would begin from 13 laps left to run when Jake Burton would opt to dive to the lane. He ran long in the early stints and took larger fuel loads to give him the opportunity to undercut at the final stop.

One lap later and the rest of the lead pack except Jarrad Filsell would pit, only for Burton to pop out with the effective race lead and be right on the gearbox of Marcello Rivera, who was still yet to pit. Rivera would attempt to play the team game and help out Ethan Grigg-Gault by offering a stout defence that resulted in contact. Jake Burton would be spun at the crest of the hill on entry to Turn 6 and deny him any opportunity of a podium.

Everyone else would feed through with Burton resurfacing after being passed by 9 cars whilst off the road.

Filsell would pit two laps later and emerge just behind James Scott’s underfueled Holden Commodore, and Scott would offer no resistance in letting Filsell by for the new effective race lead.

With 7 laps to go Hayden Veld would be 29th on track, with a penalty to Rivera ahead of him, effectively having him in 28th spot with one place to gain. He would run down and overtake Luke Mitchinson to achieve that effective 27th on the road before night’s end!

The run to the flag would only be dispersed from here by contact between Scott Gamble and Adam Briggs after Gamble locked a brake on the run into Turn 5. There would be another incident on the final lap of the race as well involving Blake Worboys and Zach Rattray-White. 

Podium would end up being Jarrad Filsell in another Lobs Esports 1-2 showing how good they have been consistently again, with Madison Down returning to the podium after a few rounds struggling for speed.

Another classic race from a classic track moves the championship lead for Dylan Rudd to 4 points after a 4th place finish. Will the “Temple of Speed” at Monza prove the moment that Jarrad Filsell retakes the championship lead and makes the statement he has been working to making all season long.