CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT CONTINUES AT CHARLOTTE

The Lionheart IndyCar Series continues its swing through the South Eastern United States this week, as they head to NASCAR country, Charlotte Motor Speedway, to show the fans in North Carolina what speed really looks like at the Fisch Motors 200. Fisch Motors of Walnut IL is the sponsor of the event.  Visit www.fischmotors.com for further information about all the vehicles available.

Last week at Richmond, it was James Krahula working the fuel strategy to perfection to take the win over polesitter Dan Geren. Geren took the long way to second, after suffering a Roberto Guerrero-like start to the race. Leading the field to green, Geren shifted up into second and lost control of the rear of the car, spinning down onto the infield. He would complete lap 1 in 35th position. Justin Weaver continued his strong run of results, finishing 3rd, while the two Joe’s, Joe Branch and Joe Hassert, rounded out the top 5.

After Richmond, Adam Blocker has taken over the points lead after Andrew Kinsella was unfortunately caught up in an incident involving lapped traffic.  Kinsella finished in 22nd place sitting 19 points from the lead. 3rd place in points, Brian Yaczik also had a tough night at Richmond and continues to sit P3 overall 100 points from Blocker. Biggest movers after Richmond are Matthew Mercer, climbing 4 spots and Tyler Graaf who climbed 3 spots.  As a result of his win Krahula now sits 9th overall.

James Krahula also takes the lead in the cleanest driver standings.  Krahula has just 15 incs this season for a 1.25 inc average per race. Ron Hacker continues to lead the Iron Man Standings with a total of close to 2,994.36 miles.  Hacker has completed a total of 1,804 laps this season.  Matt Mercer sits 2nd with Hassert, Krahula and Geren rounding out the top 5. Finally, in the Rookie of the Year chase, Stephen Laarkamp had a tough outing at Richmond getting caught up in an incident involving Greenlee.  Laarkamp now sits just 24 points ahead of the charging Justin Weaver.

This will be the 3rd time that the Lionheart Series has visited Charlotte Motor Speedway.  The last winner at Charlotte was Joe Hassert who led 66 laps on his way to victory.  The Season 3 event was also the last time league organizer Jorge Anzaldo found himself on the podium after a 3rd place finish. The track is considered a sister track to Texas Motor Speedway, and is likely to produce some of the same tight racing that we saw at Texas.

Justin Weaver is coming off his first victory at Texas finished on the podium at Richmond.  The 8 Ball Motorsports driver has had a great season so far sitting 8th overall in the championship.  Weaver has 3 top 5’s and 8 top 10’s and 1 pole during his rookie year. Andrew Kinsella finished 2nd at Texas, and the Canadian driver will be looking to put on a performance after the heartbreak of Richmond.

As with other Lionheart seasons, there have been many winners throughout the season, proving again the diversity of talent in the series. The 2018 season has produced 7 different winners.  In previous years the series has had 10 different winners. With 9 races still to go, there is a good chance that number could be exceeded as drivers like Dan Geren, Joe Branch, Stephen Laarkamp, Joe Hassert, and Michael Goodman all without wins on the season.
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Catch all the Charlotte action this Wednesday, September 26th at 10:35pm Eastern only on the iRacing Esports Network with GSRC.