Pinto Sweeps Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series Action at Road Atlanta

In Thursday night’s first race of the Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series event at Road Atlanta, Diogo Pinto became the third different winner in three rounds to kick off the 2023 campaign. In the second, he became the first driver to do it all over again.

Pinto, who is also in the process of defending last year’s Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup championship, shadowed polesitter Matt Caruana for most of the first race, only making the winning move in thrilling fashion on the final lap of the 12-lap dash. Oscar Mangan and William Chadwick would complete the podium in that race as Caruana faded to fourth after going off track. In the second race, Caruana would claw his way back up into the lead on Lap 8, but Pinto would once again make the decisive move on the final lap to take the victory over Caruana and Josh Thompson. The combined margin of victory across both races was less than half a second.

The dual victory also enabled Pinto take over the championship lead, giving him an 11-point advantage over Lime Rock 1 race winner Harley Haughton. Haughton qualified ninth for the first Road Atlanta race before fighting his way up to fifth place, but he could only manage to gain one more spot in the second round. Nonetheless, Pinto and Haughton are the only drivers to have managed four top-five finishes in the first four races of the 10-round, five-event campaign.

Behind them, Thompson, Caruana, Lime Rock polesitter Michael Janney, and Brandon Hawkin are separated by just five points in the battle for third. With only the top three drivers earning seat time in the real-world Skip Barber Formula Race Series later this year, those margins can make all the difference in determining which sim racers get to adapt their iRacing Formula iR-04 skills to a real-world racecar.

Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series race one results from Road Atlanta were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Driver

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

Pts.

1213Diogo C. Pinto1221:20.53035
258Oscar Mangan12-0.17201:20.44032
3420William Chadwick12-0.31701:20.43430
417Matt J Caruana12-0.471101:20.60628
594Harley Haughton12-1.97501:20.44226
662Josh Thompson12-4.55801:20.34925
7315Jakub Maciejewski12-6.59301:20.70424
8179Leo Brown12-10.24301:20.39223
92014Michael A Romanidis12-11.74701:20.62522
1086Michael Janney12-14.69601:20.95621
11712Brandon Hawkin12-14.94701:20.34620
121818Jack G Harrison12-15.55301:20.88819
131019Matthew Zeis12-26.06701:20.98718
141917Matt M Adams9-3 L01:20.80817
15133Josh Poulain7-5 L01:20.08616
161511Jordan Johnson51-11 L015
171416Simone Passoni1-11 L014
181110Alessandro De tullio1-11 L013
19125Przemyslaw Marek Lemanek0-12 L012
20161Ryan Micallef0-12 L011

 

Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series race two results from Road Atlanta were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Driver

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

Pts.

1113Diogo C. Pinto1281:20.38335
247Matt J Caruana12-0.29641:19.94832
362Josh Thompson12-0.76901:20.25230
454Harley Haughton12-4.42701:20.42328
51112Brandon Hawkin12-5.01801:20.28526
6106Michael Janney12-6.02601:20.24125
789Leo Brown12-6.12601:20.16124
8914Michael A Romanidis12-6.26201:20.45223
9195Przemyslaw Marek Lemanek12-7.09801:20.53522
101417Matt M Adams12-9.78401:20.59621
11153Josh Poulain12-9.87101:20.41220
121716Simone Passoni12-10.74201:20.58319
131319Matthew Zeis12-16.64201:20.66318
141218Jack G Harrison12-19.31201:20.41017
151611Jordan Johnson512-26.12101:20.61116
1628Oscar Mangan10-2 L01:20.32015
17320William Chadwick9-3 L01:20.38414
181810Alessandro De tullio6-6 L01:20.45613
19715Jakub Maciejewski1-11 L012
20201Ryan Micallef1-11 L011

 

Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series points through two events are as follows:

  1. Diogo Pinto, 132
  2. Harley Haughton, 121
  3. Josh Thompson, 104
  4. Matt Caruana, 101
  5. Michael Janney, 100
  6. Brandon Hawkin, 99
  7. Oscar Mangan, 82
  8. William Chadwick, 81
  9. Josh Poulain, 77
  10. Jordan Johnson, 76

Qualifying for next week’s Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series race from Circuit of the Americas begins today, while registration is open now for the following race at VIRginia International Raceway. All broadcasts will begin at 8PM ET across iRacing social media channels. To sign up to compete, click here.

For more information on the Skip Barber Racing School, visit www.skipbarber.com. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.