Haughton Closes the Gap in Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series with COTA Sweep

After a solid debut season in the Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series for 2022, Harley Haughton was one of many top iRacers determined to take home a greater share of Skip Barber Racing School’s prize pool for the 2023 campaign. He got a step closer to grand prize at the end of the season—a full-time ride in the 2023 Skip Barber Formula Race Series—with a sweep of both races at Circuit of the Americas on Thursday night, pulling him within one point of Diogo Pinto for the championship lead with two events left.

The United Kingdom-based Haughton, who races GT5 cars in the real world, was a class above the rest of the field all night on Thursday. He qualified nearly two tenths of a second faster than Przemyslaw Marek Lemanek before the first race and extended his lead to nearly a second before finishing the first lap of the first race. He got even more comfortable in the second race, where a spirited battle for second between Pinto, Lemanek, Josh Thompson, and Michael Janney allowed Haughton to check out and win by 6.701 seconds.

Still, the drama between that quartet produced some of the most exciting racing of the entire season. Almost all race long, they were separated by less than a second, and another pack of five cars came charging in behind them to make for a thrilling final lap. When all was said and done, second through 10th place were separated by under two seconds, and aside from Haughton in first and Brandon Hawkin in ninth, every other top-10 spot changed hands on the final lap.

Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series race one results from Circuit of the Americas were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Driver

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

Pts.

113Harley Haughton8835
2518Diogo C. Pinto8-2.94102:06.28332
331Michael Janney8-3.39902:06.07230
4611Josh Thompson8-4.30902:06.55328
5416Jakub Maciejewski8-4.618026
626Przemyslaw Marek Lemanek8-5.28302:06.89525
71017Josh Poulain8-5.62802:06.03824
81314Brandon Hawkin8-11.08302:06.56723
91513Jordan Johnson58-11.57102:06.44322
10710Michael A Romanidis8-15.01302:06.58921
11148Matt Bussa8-15.41002:06.53320
12182Sebastian Wheldon8-15.635019
1394Simone Passoni8-16.326018
141615Ross Banfield8-16.53502:06.79217
15125Matt J Caruana8-21.40202:06.98716
1687Johannes Traupe8-22.278015
17179Matt M Adams7-1 L02:07.81914
181119Matthew Zeis1-7 L013
1919226Jonathan Winker0-8 L012

 

Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series race two results from Circuit of the Americas were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Driver

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

Pts.

113Harley Haughton882:05.99135
2411Josh Thompson8-6.70102:06.57732
331Michael Janney8-6.89302:05.80530
4218Diogo C. Pinto8-6.938028
5516Jakub Maciejewski8-7.097026
666Przemyslaw Marek Lemanek8-7.70902:06.33125
7155Matt J Caruana8-8.19802:07.53024
81010Michael A Romanidis8-8.29502:06.29023
9814Brandon Hawkin8-8.40802:05.80922
10118Matt Bussa8-8.43402:06.20821
11913Jordan Johnson58-13.03502:06.29420
12122Sebastian Wheldon8-14.883019
131415Ross Banfield8-16.01102:06.97218
14179Matt M Adams8-17.468017
151819Matthew Zeis8-17.849016
16167Johannes Traupe8-18.962015
17717Josh Poulain8-54.071014
18134Simone Passoni3-5 L013
1919226Jonathan Winker0-8 L00

 

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

  1. Diogo Pinto, 192
  2. Harley Haughton, 191
  3. Josh Thompson, 164
  4. Michael Janney, 160
  5. Brandon Hawkin, 144
  6. Matt Caruana, 141
  7. Przemyslaw Marek Lemanek, 118
  8. Jordan Johnson, 118
  9. Jakub Maciejewski, 116
  10. Josh Poulain, 115

Qualifying for next week’s Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series race from VIRginia International Raceway begins today, while registration is open now for the season finale at Road America. 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.