Bobby Zalenski earned a victory on the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series for the eighth consecutive season, prevailing Tuesday at a virtual Brands Hatch in West Kingsdown, England.
Zalenski began the event in fifth place after a pre-race sprint set the starting order, but he still emerged on top. The victory was the 15th of his career, lifting him to a tie with Michael Conti for fourth in series history.
Zalenski, in the No. 18 Toyota, crossed the finish line 1.723 seconds ahead of Steven Wilson, the reigning eNASCAR series champ, in the No. 10 Ford. Tucker Minter came in third place in the No. 97 Chevrolet, and Nick Ottinger was fourth in the No. 25 Chevrolet. Vicente Salas rounded out the top five in the No. 11 Toyota.
“I can’t believe we won, especially after the sprint,” said Zalenski, from Fresno, Calif. “I just wasn’t aggressive enough. … We just had a really bad sprint race. I was really bad on my front tires as a driver, and I think we kind of missed it a little bit on the setup. We were really tight. But we just had a dream start in the actual feature race.”
Zalenski is the fifth winner through five races on the series this season.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself for this race,” Zalenski said. “I think when the sprint happened and I didn’t have good pace, I was defeated. I thought, ‘We’re not winning this.’ I was almost giving up. … It means a lot (to win).”
Wilson said of Zalenski, “I think he was just a little better than us today, which was fine. … Still proud of our second-place finish, and congrats to Bobby.”
Brands Hatch was the site of the British Grand Prix 12 times from 1964 to 1986.
The series resumes April 23 at a virtual Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway.
–Field Level Media
