2022 Round Cup Results
Hobson wins at Watkins Glen!
There was something fitting about the penultimate round of the 247 ANZCAR Cup Series' regular season being held in the rolling hills of upstate New York, for this 3.94km road course is sometimes referred to as “an oval with right turns” such is its deceptively simple layout and absence of any real slow corners.
Fitting also then, that the race should form something of a summing up of the regular season before the lottery of Daytona, and to some extent The Chase itself.
We would see the season's best performing drivers, Dyson and Hobson, face off once more as well as the two pre-eminent teams of the moment, Synergy and DPR, going head to head.
Hobson would take a handy pole position with Neil Pearson, replete with working pedals, lining up alongside. Dyson and Hetterscheid would share the second row ahead of Trahair and Douglas on row three. At the green flag the first three would get away well, with Dyson nipping underneath Pearson in turn one before beginning the sprint uphill, but chaos was unfolding behind them. Trahair and Hetterscheid were banging doors as they ran along the turn one exit curb, which eventually resolved with Trahair spinning right into Foster, who in turn spun and collected half the field in the melee.
Douglas, Williams and Trahair were out on the spot, with most others able to resume, although a long way behind.
This left Hobson leading from Dyson, Pearson, Hetterscheid and Jaiden Russell, who had threaded his way through the carnage to go from eleventh to fifth on lap one. With the top five largely settled, attention turned to pit strategy and who would be the first to blink. Russell would head to the lane at the end of lap twenty-one in an ultimately successful attempt to jump Hetterscheid, however he was an outlier, most others would wait until their fuel ran out around lap thirty-three to come for service.
Elsewhere on the track Foster and Scurlock were fighting their way back through after the first lap mishap, and Michelmore engaged in an almost race long duel with Darryn Lobb (who was racing on a friend's rig in South Africa!) which eventually resolved in favour of the Mitch man. When all was said and done, Hobson would calmly take victory from Dyson with Pearson an unchallenged third.
Russell would come home fourth ahead of Hetterscheid, Foster and Scurlock, with Michelmore, Lobb and Phelps completing the top ten.
With the lead positions in points being largely settled heading into Daytona, attention will turn to those “on the bubble” in terms of making The Chase.
Several drivers are in for a nerve-wracking week, keep an eye out for a feature on some of them coming in the next days.
One regular season round left, and it's all to play for! Join us again.
Stewards Report
No cautions or protests
There was something fitting about the penultimate round of the 247 ANZCAR Cup Series' regular season being held in the rolling hills of upstate New York, for this 3.94km road course is sometimes referred to as “an oval with right turns” such is its deceptively simple layout and absence of any real slow corners.
Fitting also then, that the race should form something of a summing up of the regular season before the lottery of Daytona, and to some extent The Chase itself.
We would see the season's best performing drivers, Dyson and Hobson, face off once more as well as the two pre-eminent teams of the moment, Synergy and DPR, going head to head.
Hobson would take a handy pole position with Neil Pearson, replete with working pedals, lining up alongside. Dyson and Hetterscheid would share the second row ahead of Trahair and Douglas on row three. At the green flag the first three would get away well, with Dyson nipping underneath Pearson in turn one before beginning the sprint uphill, but chaos was unfolding behind them. Trahair and Hetterscheid were banging doors as they ran along the turn one exit curb, which eventually resolved with Trahair spinning right into Foster, who in turn spun and collected half the field in the melee.
Douglas, Williams and Trahair were out on the spot, with most others able to resume, although a long way behind.
This left Hobson leading from Dyson, Pearson, Hetterscheid and Jaiden Russell, who had threaded his way through the carnage to go from eleventh to fifth on lap one. With the top five largely settled, attention turned to pit strategy and who would be the first to blink. Russell would head to the lane at the end of lap twenty-one in an ultimately successful attempt to jump Hetterscheid, however he was an outlier, most others would wait until their fuel ran out around lap thirty-three to come for service.
Elsewhere on the track Foster and Scurlock were fighting their way back through after the first lap mishap, and Michelmore engaged in an almost race long duel with Darryn Lobb (who was racing on a friend's rig in South Africa!) which eventually resolved in favour of the Mitch man. When all was said and done, Hobson would calmly take victory from Dyson with Pearson an unchallenged third.
Russell would come home fourth ahead of Hetterscheid, Foster and Scurlock, with Michelmore, Lobb and Phelps completing the top ten.
With the lead positions in points being largely settled heading into Daytona, attention will turn to those “on the bubble” in terms of making The Chase.
Several drivers are in for a nerve-wracking week, keep an eye out for a feature on some of them coming in the next days.
One regular season round left, and it's all to play for! Join us again.
Stewards Report
No cautions or protests
