Gordon Barnes delivers a strong comeback drive in final third of Zolder race to finish eleventh – Miguel Gomes rounds out top 15, Yevgen Sokolovskiy in top 25
In the only European race of the eNASCAR International iRacing Series, Gordon Barnes rewarded himself with a respectable final sprint after initial setbacks and missed the top ten only marginally. Miguel Gomes survived two incidents to finish in 15th place, while Yevgen Sokolovskiy finished 21st.
Barnes bounces back from setbacks
As the Briton told ‘simracerreport.com’, he is certain that the early involuntary incidents were the reason for missing out on a top ten finish. Barnes, who started the race from 14th place and dropped to the lowest of 21st, held 19th position with ten laps to go. It looked like the 48-year-old would not climb any more places towards a top 15 result.
But the combination of an excellent feeling with worn tyres and the fact that the #148 Camaro could be driven like a top ten car, brought him up in the rankings. With eight laps to go, Barnes overtook Alex Tagliani (NASCAR Pinty’s Series) to step up in top 15.
Also Max Lanza, Tobias Dauenhauer (both EuroNASCAR) and Justin Campbell (Drive for Diversity) were passed just moments later. However behind tenth-placed Treyten Lapcevich (NASCAR Pinty’s Series), the catch-up ride came to an end as the checkered flag waved by lap 30.
„[Despite the result] my first thoughts were, ‚That was a big step up in race pace‘ compared to previous races,“ Barnes commented on the final ten laps. Continuing, „It was a very tough race. I definitely had a top ten car. But after the incidents I came back well and I know I could have been in the top ten [if the distance had been longer],“ he assured.
Gomes back in the top 15, Sokolovskiy struggling
The event in Belgium was not an easy one, neither for Gomes or Sokolovskiy. Gomes started one place behind Barnes and later dropped positions. Annoyingly, the Portuguese spun after contact with Vladimiros Tziortzis (EuroNASCAR) on lap 17 and even dropped out of the top 20 shortly afterwards.
However, the last ten laps were also to suit the #46 car. Gomes was not entirely satisfied with the result, as he had set himself a better result as target. Underlining the finish: „After what happened, it was 15th place. But I had expected a solid top ten result.“
In the meantime, Sokolovskiy struggled. Finishing 21st, it was apparent that the Ukrainian would have liked to have taken more from the Zolder race. However, he was able to make up positions on track from 24th on the grid and managed to get past the near-spinning #69 of Giorgio Maggi (EuroNASCAR).
With images from eNASCAR International iRacing Series (iRacing)
27 Januar 2022, Alessandro Righi