Lionheart IndyCar Series iRacing Phoenix Report

The Lionheart IndyCar Series in iRacing recently visited Phoenix for round 8. Its full speed ahead as we have the race report.

The Lionheart Indycar Series in iRacing moves on to round 8 at Phoenix. This time the drivers visit the high speed oval for the Moza Racing Phoenix 200.

Written by Darren B of simrace247.com

Top 5 On The Grid

1. #53 Newsome: 19.034
2. #56 Pinheiroo: +0.019
3. #88 Brophy: +0.029
4. #1 Blocker: +0.032
5. #44 Harrington: +0.041

Once again another packed grid of 39 cars as they line up behind the pace car, 200 laps await, green light and here we go! Newsome punches it and pulls out a gap of 3 cars, Blocker moves up to 3rd and Van de Sandt pushes up to 4th. Brophy and Harrington make slight contact, breath deep, no issues. Apart from that, a clean opening to the start of the race by everyone. Newsome is setting a great pace out front as she broke the Lionheart IndyCar lap record at Phoenix in qualifying.

Blocker moves up to P2, Pinheiroo is keeping a fast Van de Sandt at bay in 4th with the top 10 already covered by 5 seconds. Drivers throughout the field are in a real tussle as they try to climb the ladder on the leaderboard. Van de Sandt has moved up to p3, Brophy up to P4, Harrington follows through and Pinheiroo drops to 6th with Chin in 7th.

Yellow Flag Yellow Flag Yellow Flag Yellow Flag

Lap 29 brings out the first yellow flag of the race, Rigney gets caught in the melee between Musslemann and Wardlow as his car had nowhere to go. Lap 34 and we are back to green flag racing, Brophy ends up in the wall after dueling with Blocker, that’s one for the stewards, no other cars were caught up in it. Lap 40 and we are racing again, with the yellow coming out again on lap 45, the car of pole sitter Newsome is flying through the air, lap 50 gets us back to racing, lap 55 brings out the yellow again, Guyon tags into the back of Morgan sending both cars into a spin.

Lap 60 returns to green flag racing after a plethora of yellow flags, Van de Sandt is out front, with all of the yellow flag incidents, many drivers had pitted at various situations amongst the caution laps. As the drivers get up to speed once again, it’s time to focus on the positions of the racers.

Lap 70 Top 10

1. Van de Sandt
2. Chin
3. Pinheiroo
4. Brant
5. Taylor
6. Calisto
7. Riggs
8. Benci
9. Galvin
10. Nunez

As we can see, a big shake up in the positions, gainers at the top, is Joshua Chin, he was in P7 at the early stages and managed to avoid a lot of the carnage. Pinheiroo is in a stable 3rd and needs a good result. Chin is keeping tabs with VDS, the gap, o.4, we know both drivers are extremely good once they are in the groove, Nunez in P10 is having a great battle with Blocker, the Team Simrace247 driver needs a positive result, Blocker makes the move and up to P10, Nunez reclaims it but gets held up by a lapped car of Bomberbach who is really of the pace, Blocker makes his move, nice.

P. Kraus is working up through the pack after not setting a lap time in qualifying, he is now up to P15, Nunez comes into the pits. w start to see other cars coming down pit road, and the shuffle up begins.

Lap 102 Top 10

1. Blocker
2. Carey
3. P.Kraus
4. Harrington
5. Beard
6. Otis
7. Showen
8. Frazier
9. Graaf
10. Marquez

Lap 103 sees a lot of the top 10 come in with the yellow coming out on lap 104, Galvin slams the wall in turn 4, and it appears some debris comes from the car of Brant, damaging the car of Galvin and sending him to the wall. Lap 109, and the green flag is out. After the shuffle up of cars who pitted in and the caution, the pack resumes order.

Lap 111 Top 10

1. Van de Sandt
2. Chin
3. Blocker
4. Kraus
5. Carey
6. Beard
7. Otis
8. Lanini
9. Sexton
10. Marquez

Kraus is on the charge, he has made up over 34 places in the race, he passes Blocker and moves up to P3. Make that P2 as he passes Chin and sits behind VDS, the gap, 0.1. Here he goes, side by side and blocker and Chin are right behind them, Kraus and VDS side by side, Chin and Blocker side by side. VDS is not giving this one up, they scrub the tire wall of each other, Chin in P3 is defending hard, and Blocker looks for the move, Yellow flag!

Just when the racing was getting to the edge of the seat, the yellow is out again, and the stricken car of Huston is seen crawling back to pit road, Graaf makes contact with the car of Huston sending his car into a spin, and a trip to the wall. Many cars visit pit road under yellow, and the top four who were battling stay out. Lap 128 and here we go green flag, the cars are getting up to speed, none of the front runners have gone for the send just yet, yellow is out again on lap 133, it’s Huston again after losing control. Lap 138, green flag.

Blocker goes for the launch on Kraus on the restart, he is lining him up, and Kraus defends. Van de Sandt sets the fastest lap of the race so far and has opened a gap back to Kraus by 0.5. Lap 157 and VDS pits in with other drivers coming in lap after lap, but Kraus and Blocker have stayed out for now. Kraus pits in at the end of lap 163, Blocker pits at the end of lap 165. Kraus gets past Van de Sandt on track for P9, this is the net lead of the race.

Lap 190 Top 10

1. Kraus
2. Blocker
3. Van de Sandt
4. Chin
5. Carey
6. Otis
7. Beard
8. Taylor
9. Riggs
10. Lanini

As we enter the final laps of the race, Kraus is caught in traffic and Blocker is charging, can he make up a gap of 3 seconds, time will tell. VDS has had a great race so far, shame we did not see him keep with Kraus, but none the less, bravo. Chin is 1.7 seconds behind  VDS, a great drive from Chin, he is returning to the sharp end. With 4 laps to go and the gap is down to 2 seconds from Kraus to Blocker.

Victory In The Moza Racing Phoenix 200

6 wins in 8 races, not setting a qualifying lap time and starting in P37, Philip Kraus has won the Moza Racing Phoenix 200. Speaking in HyperX pit lane ” A really fun race, i thought i would finish 20th at best, I got lucky with the cautions” said Kraus.