Mikkel Gade and Deagen Fairclough took the checkered flags in the Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series double feature at VIRginia International Raceway on Sunday. Gade kicked off the day by winning his third race in a row in the unique series featuring the iRacing Formula iR-04, and was looking to score his fourth before a final-lap kerfuffle that broke Fairclough’s way. The Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series closely mirrors the real-world Skip Barber Formula Race Series in vehicle formula and racing circuits, with the added caveat that the top performers in the virtual series earn racing opportunities in the real one. Each week, a new slate of 20 drivers qualifies their way into the next race round, receiving coaching from Skip Barber Racing School instructors before taking to the track for a pair of 15-minute timed races. The champion at the end of the six-week series earns a full-season ride in the Skip Barber Formula Race Series, and more than $500,000 worth of prizes is on the line overall. Drivers would retain their finishing spots from the first feature for the start of the second, but Fairclough wouldn’t be denied a return to the front. Despite starting 15th, he’d make his way into the top 10 in the first lap, and would pick off other competitors one by one before shadowing Gade and Rankin in their battle for the lead on the final lap. As those two made contact, Fairclough would duck through the grass and avoid making contact with the retaining wall. That lead trio’s gap on the rest of the field was so large that Fairclough’s margin of victory was more than two seconds over Patrick Woods-Toth. Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series points through two events are as follows:
- Mikkel Gade, 121
- Elvis Rankin, 117
- Deagen Fairclough, 103
- Nicolas Mateo, 103
- Matt Bussa, 96
- Harley Haughton, 93
- Michael Janney, 90
- Felipe Cabrera Loyola, 88
- Pierfrancesco Patricolo, 83
- Will Redford, 72