The chase to earn a full-season ride in the Skip Barber Formula Race Series continued on iRacing on Sunday, as the Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series staged its third of six race events at the iconic Watkins Glen International. When the checkered flags fell on the double feature event, two new winners—Nicolas Mateo and Matt Adams—found themselves standing atop their respective race podiums.
The Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series closely mirrors the real-world Skip Barber Formula Race Series in vehicle formula and racing circuits, with the added caveat that the top performers in the virtual series earn racing opportunities in the real one. Each week, a new slate of 20 drivers qualifies their way into the next race round, receiving coaching from Skip Barber Racing School instructors before taking to the track for a pair of 15-minute timed races. The champion at the end of the six-week series earns a full-season ride in the Skip Barber Formula Race Series, and more than $500,000 worth of prizes is on the line overall.
Similar to Deagen Fairclough’s triumph in last week’s second feature from VIRginia International Raceway, Mateo led only one lap on the way to taking his victory: the last one. He held off Fairclough and three-time race winner Mikkel Gade to do it, as all three drivers were separated by less than a second. Gade, Michael Janney, and polesitter Matt Bussa led a lap each in the nine-lap race, but it was Adams who led the most with five before falling back to seventh on the final lap.
But similar to Fairclough’s own charge through the field at VIR, Adams fought his way from seventh to first in the second race. Mateo would still lead a race-high six laps, with Gade briefly nipping him for the point, but Adams would make his own winning move with two laps to go. The second race wound up even more closely packed, with Elvis Rankin, Gade, and Janney all within .616 seconds of Adams—closer than Fairclough had been to Mateo in the previous feature.
Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series feature one results at Watkins Glen International were as follows:
Fin. |
St. |
No. |
Driver |
Laps |
Interval |
Led |
Best |
Pts. |
| 1 | 15 | 18 | Nicolas Mateo | 9 | 1 | 1:46.037 | 35 | |
| 2 | 19 | 7 | Deagen Fairclough | 9 | -0.765 | 0 | 1:45.789 | 32 |
| 3 | 2 | 3 | Mikkel Gade | 9 | -0.930 | 1 | 1:46.044 | 30 |
| 4 | 3 | 5 | Michael Janney | 9 | -1.184 | 1 | 1:46.309 | 28 |
| 5 | 6 | 11 | Ross Banfield | 9 | -6.970 | 0 | 1:45.821 | 26 |
| 6 | 9 | 6 | Pierfrancesco Patricolo | 9 | -9.733 | 0 | 1:46.429 | 25 |
| 7 | 4 | 15 | Matt M Adams | 9 | -10.536 | 5 | 1:45.974 | 24 |
| 8 | 10 | 13 | Jeffrey Decker | 9 | -21.962 | 0 | 1:48.121 | 23 |
| 9 | 14 | 9 | Michael Romanidis | 9 | -32.799 | 0 | 1:45.645 | 22 |
| 10 | 11 | 8 | Patrick Woods-Toth | 9 | -1:08.693 | 0 | 1:46.181 | 21 |
| 11 | 5 | 2 | Elvis Rankin | 9 | -1:11.360 | 0 | 1:46.739 | 20 |
| 12 | 12 | 19 | Theodore Burns | 7 | 0.000 | 0 | 1:46.000 | 19 |
| 13 | 18 | 1 | Will Redford | 6 | 0.000 | 0 | 1:46.216 | 18 |
| 14 | 1 | 10 | Matt Bussa | 6 | 0.000 | 1 | 1:46.591 | 17 |
| 15 | 17 | 14 | Lyden Lee | 6 | 0.000 | 0 | 1:45.788 | 16 |
| 16 | 20 | 12 | Matthew Zeis | 6 | 0.000 | 0 | 1:46.374 | 15 |
| 17 | 7 | 16 | Jordan Johnson5 | 4 | 0.000 | 0 | 1:47.487 | 14 |
| 18 | 16 | 17 | Jon Boetefuer | 3 | 0.000 | 0 | 13 | |
| 19 | 8 | 20 | Simon De Mori | 3 | 0.000 | 0 | 12 | |
| 20 | 13 | 4 | Felipe Cabrera Loyola | 2 | 0.000 | 0 | 11 |
Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series feature two results at Watkins Glen International were as follows:
Fin. |
St. |
No. |
Driver |
Laps |
Interval |
Led |
Best |
Pts. |
| 1 | 7 | 15 | Matt M Adams | 9 | 0.000 | 2 | 1:45.477 | 35 |
| 2 | 11 | 2 | Elvis Rankin | 9 | -0.222 | 0 | 1:45.556 | 32 |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | Mikkel Gade | 9 | -0.428 | 1 | 1:45.325 | 30 |
| 4 | 4 | 5 | Michael Janney | 9 | -0.616 | 0 | 1:45.600 | 28 |
| 5 | 15 | 14 | Lyden Lee | 9 | -4.842 | 0 | 1:45.857 | 26 |
| 6 | 1 | 18 | Nicolas Mateo | 9 | -5.829 | 6 | 1:45.830 | 25 |
| 7 | 9 | 9 | Michael Romanidis | 9 | -6.248 | 0 | 1:45.852 | 24 |
| 8 | 6 | 6 | Pierfrancesco Patricolo | 9 | -6.535 | 0 | 1:45.400 | 23 |
| 9 | 12 | 19 | Theodore Burns | 9 | -6.726 | 0 | 1:45.543 | 22 |
| 10 | 18 | 17 | Jon Boetefuer | 9 | -7.329 | 0 | 1:45.483 | 21 |
| 11 | 19 | 20 | Simon De Mori | 9 | -8.106 | 0 | 1:45.905 | 20 |
| 12 | 20 | 4 | Felipe Cabrera Loyola | 9 | -8.618 | 0 | 1:45.668 | 19 |
| 13 | 14 | 10 | Matt Bussa | 9 | -8.857 | 0 | 1:45.511 | 18 |
| 14 | 16 | 12 | Matthew Zeis | 9 | -8.968 | 0 | 1:46.009 | 17 |
| 15 | 17 | 16 | Jordan Johnson5 | 9 | -12.032 | 0 | 1:45.607 | 16 |
| 16 | 8 | 13 | Jeffrey Decker | 9 | -12.811 | 0 | 1:45.843 | 15 |
| 17 | 10 | 8 | Patrick Woods-Toth | 9 | -14.732 | 0 | 14 | |
| 18 | 5 | 11 | Ross Banfield | 9 | -39.026 | 0 | 1:48.777 | 13 |
| 19 | 2 | 7 | Deagen Fairclough | 3 | -6 L | 0 | 12 | |
| 20 | 13 | 1 | Will Redford | 1 | -8 L | 0 | 11 |
The Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series season continues next week with a visit to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, with Time Attack qualifying open now and the race airing on Sunday at 3PM ET. For more information on the Skip Barber Racing School, visit www.skipbarber.com. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.
