Steven Wilson held off road-racing specialist Bobby Zalenski to win on the street course at a virtual Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in Sao Paolo, Brazil, on Tuesday in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series.
It was the first time eNASCAR competed on a virtual Brazilian track, and Wilson emerged with his second victory in the circuit’s three races this season.
“This rocks, for sure,” said Wilson, an Iowa City resident who drives the No. 77 Chevrolet. “Having two wins already this early in the season is awesome. We’re undefeated when we make it to the end of the race, so that’s also a good note.
“We had a really fast (setup). I have to thank all the guys behind the scenes.”
Wilson registered his 11th career eNASCAR win, moving into sole possession of seventh place on the all-time list.
The fact that Zalenski was in contention also was no surprise. Zalenski, who drives the No. 22 Chevrolet, owns 10 career eNASCAR wins on road courses while never finishing outside the top five in such events.
Wilson topped Zalenski by 1.357 seconds. Vicente Salas came in third place in the No. 11 Toyota, 2.573 seconds back of Wilson.
Casey Kirwin, in the No. 24 Chevrolet, edged Parker White, in the No. 95 Chevrolet, in a sprint to the finish for fourth place. The margin between those two was 0.047 seconds.
“(It was) very difficult,” said Kirwan, from Matthews, N.C. “I kind of joked … that I was slow in all the right places compared to Parker. Yeah, he was much quicker than me over the run. Just thankfully I had a good enough drive out onto the main straightaways and just … was able to hold him off. He was really good. …
“To go from 15th in qualifying to fourth is better than I could have hoped.”
The series’ next race is scheduled for March 25 at a virtual Richmond (Va.) Raceway.
–Field Level Media
