It may have been a high-attrition round for most of the field, but Subaru Motorsports USA’s Jon Robertson had clear skies in front of him all day long in Wednesday’s iRacing Rallycross World Championship round from Iowa Speedway. The 2020 season runner-up qualified on pole, won his heat, and led every lap of the main event to score his second straight race victory and extend his championship lead to 12 points over SET Esports’ Jonne Ollikainen.
Kevin Ellis Jr. was third, scoring the first-ever iRX podium for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, while Ollikainen completed the podium. Killian Dall’olmo made his first final of the season in fourth, while Daytona winner Tommi Hallman returned to the feature and completed the top five. Jake Robertson, Jakob Rafoss, defending race winner Yohann Harth, Rasmus Tuominen, and Luis Nunez completed the running order in the feature, the latter three impacted by contact and an accordion effect off of the starting line.
Yokohama Pole Award: By the absolute slimmest of margins, Robertson scored this week’s Yokohama Pole Award by .002 seconds in qualifying over Elliott Sadler eSports’ Vicente Salas. The top spot made him the first repeat pole winner of the season.
DirtFish Rookie of the Year: For the first time all season, a rookie made it onto the podium, with Ellis’ second place finish the best result of the year for a first-year driver. The finish also enabled him to jump into the top five in the championship standings, surpassing Hansen Williams Esports’ Jarno Leskinen for the DirtFish Rookie of the Year lead. Rafoss and Nunez were the other two rookies to make Wednesday’s final.
The 2021 DirtFish Rookie of the Year will receive a complimentary Three Day course from DirtFish, the Official Rallying School of iRacing Rallycross. To sign up and get behind the wheel yourself, visit drive.dirtfish.com.
Hard Charger Award: Two drivers—Jim Beaver eSports’ Alex Bergeron and Team Yokohama’s Thomas Wangen—gained eight spots from their qualifying results through LCQ finishes to tie for the weekly Hard Charger Award. Vermont SportsCar’s Jakob Rafoss was the biggest position gainer of drivers to make the final, finishing seventh overall after qualifying 14th. Wangen has gained a total of 28 positions through the first three races of the season.
iRX All-Star Invitational: Casey Kirwan’s first iRX appearance ended in a thorough beating of the field, even as the division inverted the heat grids for the first time all season. The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series star defeated Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup frontrunner Jamie Fluke and Team Fordzilla standout Pablo “GoProLopez” Lopez in the main event, coming from the fourth row of the grid to lead every lap of the feature.
Daytona winner and ARCA Menards Series driver Parker Retzlaff joined Kirwan and Fluke among the heat winners on the way to a fourth place finish, while short track star Landon Huffman completed the top five. iRX and eNASCAR team owner Parker Kligerman made his return to the All-Star events by sneaking into the final with a second place LCQ finish; he’d finish eighth, sliding across the finish line on his side after a jump gone awry. Lopez now leads Retzlaff by two points in the championship, which counts a driver’s best five scores out of a possible nine.
iRX World Championship presented by Yokohama feature results from Iowa Speedway were as follows:
Fin. |
St. |
No. |
Name |
Manufacturer |
Laps |
Interval |
Led |
Best |
Pts |
| 1 | 1 | 86 | Jon Robertson | Subaru | 10 | 10 | 35.798 | 29 | |
| 2 | 3 | 30 | Kevin Ellis Jr | Subaru | 10 | -2.052 | 0 | 35.841 | 24 |
| 3 | 4 | 44 | Jonne Ollikainen | Subaru | 10 | -2.983 | 0 | 35.967 | 21 |
| 4 | 2 | 18 | Killian Dallolmo | Subaru | 10 | -4.641 | 0 | 36.021 | 16 |
| 5 | 5 | 87 | Tommi Hallman | Subaru | 10 | -4.827 | 0 | 36.024 | 15 |
| 6 | 7 | 45 | Jake Robertson | Subaru | 10 | -5.037 | 0 | 35.908 | 12 |
| 7 | 6 | 13 | Jakob Rafoss | Subaru | 10 | -7.036 | 0 | 36.311 | 11 |
| 8 | 10 | 90 | Yohann Harth | Subaru | 10 | -7.590 | 0 | 36.005 | 8 |
| 9 | 8 | 22 | Rasmus Tuominen | Subaru | 10 | -12.372 | 0 | 36.104 | 9 |
| 10 | 9 | 14 | Luis Núñez | Subaru | 10 | -12.753 | 0 | 36.048 | 7 |
iRX World Championship presented by Yokohama driver standings through three rounds are as follows:
- Jon Robertson, 78
- Jonne Ollikainen, 66
- Tommi Hallman, 49
- Vicente Salas, 46
- Kevin Ellis Jr., 44
- Yohann Harth, 43
- Jake Robertson, 32
- Killian Dall’olmo, 29
- Jarno Leskinen, 29
- Rasmus Tuominen, 24
iRX World Championship presented by Yokohama team standings through three rounds are as follows:
- Subaru Motorsports USA, 121
- SET Esports, 115
- Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 76
- Elliott Sadler eSports, 57
- SET Esports Team GRX, 53
- Hansen Williams Esports, 47
- Jim Beaver eSports, 27
- Nitro Circus, 30
- Logitech G Altus Esports, 30
- Ed Carpenter Racing, 26
iRacing Rallycross presented by Yokohama continues next Wednesday at Brands Hatch Circuit. Coverage kicks off with the All-Star Invitational at 4PM ET and continues with the World Championship at 5PM ET, and will air across iRacing’s Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube. iRX will also be covered in Finnish by the Finnish Sim Racing Association, in French by BenjxMotors, and in Norwegian by the Norwegian SimRacing Channel.
For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.
