Lionheart Retro Series iRacing INDY 250

The 2022 Lionheart Retro Series in iRacing continues as round 8 visits Indianapolis for the high speed Buttkicker INDY 250.

The Lionheart Retro Series recently visited Indianapolis in iRacing for round 8 of the series, the 2022 ButtKicker Indy 250 was all set and ready.

Written by Darren B of simrace247.com

Top 5 On The Grid

1. #28 Daniels: 47.793
2. #39 Cohn: +0.000
3. #70 Hearn: +0.011
4. #92 Lanini: +0.016
5. #40 Herrick: +0.021

As always, another great turn out of racers, 34 cars are ready for action, fire it up and lets go for 100 laps. Green flag, pedal to the metal, we are racing, what a sight and sound of these retro F1 Lotus 79 cars. Hearn is plagued by internet issues, what a shame, lap 1 all clean no issues for the pack. Rodriguez has punched up to P4, this is looking like it is going to be a feisty race, its got that vibe about it, and Wardlow ups to P3. Everywhere you look, the cars are so close together, 3 wide with Daniels, Wardlow and Lanini.

Fowler is working his way through the pack, he is currently P6 and will always bring some atmosphere to the party. Lap 13 has caught out some drivers lower down the pack, Staples, Gallas, Hearn and Godsoe are involved, we remain green. Lanini is dropping down the leaderboard and now sits in P12. Malone and Valiokas are having a great start to the race as they have both moved up 12 places from their starting position and are sitting in P9 & P10. Daniels and Wardlow start to test each other’s nerve as they get rather close going into the banking.

Lap 20 Top 10

1. Daniels
2. Wardlow
3. Rodriguez
4. Fowler
5. Hardin
6. Cohn
7. Herrick
8. Wood
9. Malone
10. Valiokas

The fast train of drivers are keeping it clean at the moment, we will soon be approaching the first scheduled pit stop window. Here we go, Daniels is the first to come in and the only driver to do so on lap 31. The rest of the pack stay out, this is going to be carnage if many decide to come in all at once, Rodriguez leads. Forsythe loses control down pit road and slams the wall, Ragan leads on track. A massive crash at the end of lap 34 as plenty of drivers enter pit road, in the background, it seems as if the knock on effect of slowing down caught some drivers out. yellow flag!

Lap 38 gets us back to green flag racing, Fowler leads, Munoz applies pressure and goes for the lead. Team Simrace247 driver Nunez is sitting in P3 and looking fast, Daniels leads, Nunez takes it. Roberts now leads, great racing.

Lap 50 Top 10

1. Nunez
2. Roberts
3. Wardlow
4. Daniels
5. Munoz
6. Guyon
7. Fowler
8. Anzaldo
9. Galvin
10. Rasimas

The halfway marker has produced an interesting race thus far, lap 53 brings out the yellow flag for the second time in the race. A massive crash that took out plenty of drivers from the leading pack, several cars were involved. Nunez who was leading had his rear mirror full of cars flying through the air, that was a big one. Daniels, Roberts, Munoz, Guyon, Anzaldo and a whole host of others were caught up in it. Lap 57 brings out the green flag once again, several drivers had pitted under yellow, mixing up the pack once again. Graaf takes the lead from Fowler, Valiokas in P3 is looking feisty.

Lap 60 Top 10

1. Rodriguez
2. Valiokas
3. Fowler
4. Graaf
5. G. Wood
6. Cohn
7. Ragan
8. Galvin
9. Rasimas
10. Taylor

The clouds are putting part of the track in shade, will this have an impact on the handling of the cars, Graaf works up to P3. Valiokas and Rodriguez are working together to try and break the pack, the teammates may have a plan. Gabe Wood is pushing hard and has worked himself up toP3, Graaf sits in P4. The leading group is covered by 11 cars with Nunez at the tail, Wood takes P2. The second pack of drivers with Hardin in 12th is catching, and the leading trio pit in on lap 70, at the end of that lap, a big majority follow suit. Nunez leads with Rasimas on his tail pipes, they are working really well together and switching drafting duties which iS allowing them to pull away from Hardin in P3. Nunez pits with 23 to go.

Nunez has a great pit stop, his exit is pedal to the metal, and he nailed it with great speed coming back onto the track and rejoins in P9 ahead of Valiokas and Rodriguez. The leading 8 cars are still needing to come down to pit road, Rasimas still leads, Hardin takes the lead with 15 to go. Drivers that needed to stop, start to filter down pit lane.

Top 10 Lap 90

1. Rasimas
2. Lanini
3. Sirois
4. Hardin
5. Malone
6. Nunez
7. Rodriguez
8. Valiokas
9. Galvin
10. Wright

The home stretch is in sight, Rasimas just needs to hold on to a 1.4 second lead, the remaining podium position battles are getting tense. They seem to be fighting eachother rather than working as a unit to chase down the leader. 5 laps to go and Rasimas is nearly there, he is keeping his cool and holding the gap. 4 wide down the start finish straight in the battle for seventh, tense times.

Victory in the ButtKicker Indy 250

Mike Rasimas has taken victory in the ButtKicker Indy 250, once he got into the groove, he held his nerve, kept his cool and brought the car home to victory. Speaking in HyperX victory lane ” This is unbelievable, I’m over the moon with how the race worked out”.

Finish	Team	Driver	Start	Laps	Interval	Laps Led	Inc	Pts	Bonuses/Penalties
1	#68-GRAAFix LC Motorsports	Mike Rasimas	14	100	–	22	4	122	(+2) Led a lap
2	#92-GRAAFix LC Motorsports	Chris Lanini	4	100	-0.341	3	0	114	(+2) Led a lap (+2) 0 or less Incidents
3	#7-Raven Motorsports Silver	Ricky Hardin	7	100	-0.362	3	4	102	(+2) Led a lap
4	#34-Independent	Trevor Malone	21	100	-0.391	0	4	94
5	#99-Raven Lavoie Motorsports	David Sirois	20	100	-0.554	0	4	90
6	#14-Team SimRace247	Luis Gonzalez Nunez	29	100	-4.324	14	0	90	(+2) Led a lap (+2) 0 or less Incidents
7	#10-RSR Esport	David R. Rodriguez	6	100	-5.834	5	4	84	(+2) Led a lap
8	#23-RSR By ButtKicker	Marius Valiokas	22	100	-5.846	5	0	82	(+2) Led a lap (+2) 0 or less Incidents
9	#42-AAR W/ GRAAFix LC	Jason Galvin	15	100	-5.854	0	2	74
10	#27-GLC JWS	Jake C Wright	12	100	-5.866	0	8	70