The official esports series of V8 Supercars will go down to the wire with the sixth and final race at Oran Park next weekend, following a chaotic endurance race at Bathurst that saw two of the championship favourites in trouble.
This series runs a pair of championships, with Esports drivers running in the Pro series and real-world V8 Supercars and Dunlop Super2 Series drivers in the All Star event. The two groups of drivers also share cars for two endurance races, scoring points for their respective events.
Defending two-time champion Dayne Warren hasn’t had the best season after winning the opening round, but was back in form in qualifying to take provisional pole position by more than a tenth of a second from Jordan Caruso.
The top five teams then entered the superpole shootout with the All Star drivers, and it was Reuben Goodall who took the session by just under a tenth from Aaron Borg. Warren’s team mate Jayden Ojeda was on for a decent time but lost the car under braking at The Chase. It only got worse for Warren and Ojeda, as Ojeda disconnected from the race barely a third of the way in. Warren was able to jump into the car but was a lap down and all but assured of last place. Only two laps later though, the same issue affected Cooper Murray, the pro team-mate of championship leader Jake Burton. Again, Burton was able to join the race himself – being already prepared to do so as the cars approached the pit stop window – but tumbled down the order. A late safety car saw the pack close up giving Burton the opportunity to recover some points, climbing to tenth place by the chequered flag and recover some points.
At the front though it was the unbeatable endurance combination of Jarrad Filsell and Brodie Kostecki who took victory. This pairing also won the Sandown endurance race earlier in the season as well as the Bathurst event in 2021. Despite finishing in second place, the big winners were Borg and Madison Down. Down now leaps into the Pro championship lead with one round remaining, five points ahead of Filsell, with Burton now 32 points further back. In the All-Stars event, Kostecki has an almost unassailable 140-point lead, with 150 for each race win.