Your favorite iRacing league racing series, the BSC Cup Series, was back in action last night at Homestead Miami Speedway for 125 miles under the Florida sun. This race featured a stage break at lap 50 and a total of 5 tire sets. We only saw a few cautions during the race so it became a battle of attrition and tire management to see the checkered flag.
Anthony Savignano (99) notches his second straight BSC Cup Series victory and jumps to the top of the standings at the halfway point of the Spring Cleaning Season last night. The 99 car was able to hold off a charging Alex Whitt (594) who managed to overcome a lap hold (from a penalty) and battle for the lead. “I just pinned it. I said screw it we gotta go for it so I used the tires to their max” Savignano said in his post-race interview.
Early Tire Strategy in Play
The first stage only saw a single early caution and then ran green through lap 50. Mostly everyone stayed clean aside from a few cars sliding into the wall on the first restart as they starting to gain confidence in the grip. Sawyer Gara (54) managed to stay off the wall but ran into the back of another car collecting damage and putting his Toyota down on power.
Alex Whitt (594) started with a single lap hold due to a penalty from last week’s race and the early caution kept him a single lap down. Gara was one of the lone pitstops during the first stage as most were saving tires and fuel to secure those crucial stage points. Savignano managed the stage victory with David Trogdan (33) and TJ Spainhour (86) following closely behind.
Sprint to the Finish
The second stage saw quite a few more cautions as tires started to work in and the drivers spread across the track looking for any speed advantage they could find. The extra cautions started to split the strategies of the drivers with some taking two or four tires whenever they could but many trying to stretch as long as possible. For most of the second stage the 99 car was closely followed by the 594 battling for the lead from early on.
A caution on lap 90 saw Seth Pegg (59) collect points for leading a lap before quickly being dispatched by fresher tires. The next 30 laps saw the front runners battle for first while Noel Jakelwicz (1), Andrew Jaymalin (65), and Gara working to secure the final podium spot. The trio were doing their best to manage tires while staying ahead of the pack close behind. Jaymalin’s tires started to fall apart at lap 115 while Jakelwicz’s managed to keep Gara at bay and allowed him to climb the final podium spot. James Parfitt, the leagues’ commentator had to say “points on the board; that’s really all you can ask for” when speaking with Jakelwicz in his post-race interview.
Your Top Five were: 1. Anthony Savignano 2. Alex Whitt 3. Noel Jakelwicz 4. Sawyer Gara 5. David Trogdan
Moving on From Homestead Miami
The BSC Cup Series returns to iRacing next Tuesday on April 1st for 125 laps at Martinsville Speedway. As always, our races are broadcast on JP Broadcasting so you can tune in to watch his throw down in Henry County, Virginia. Come watch to see if Savignano can pull off the threepeat or if another victor will rise to the occasion.