DGFX Championship - vApex Finishes 1-2

The DGFX East/West Series showdown was a 6-hour endurance race at Road Atlanta where vApex Racing Group claimed the DGFX Championship! For those who may not be familiar with DGFX, it’s a League for the serious iRacing competitors with live race control marshals; the events are also broadcast on the Global SimRacing Channel. The DGFX finale at Road Atlanta brought teams that had competed in the East Series and West Series back together for the Championship on a cold afternoon.

vApex Racing Group had four teams entered: DGFX points leader Dave Jaques and Mikey Grems were in the Green Corvette C7 DP; Chuck Chambliss and Kevin Linden were in the Yellow C7; Russell Klaesson and Leo Corti drove the Blue C7; and Andy Banfield and JC Arnold wheeled the Audi R8 in the GT3 group. Going into this finale, our Green Team held a slim lead over the Black Adder team. Yellow was a few places back, but held out hope for a Championship podium.

As is normal for our guys, there was significant time and effort put into chassis prep and setup. Dave led chassis development for the Green and Yellow teams, with help from all the C7 drivers. Leo and Russell worked on a slightly different setup for the Blue team; Andy and JC developed the chassis for the Audi. Many laps were driven at Road Atlanta making sure the setups worked well over an entire fuel stint and their hard work paid off. During official practice, Mikey (Green) led the way with a 1:14.089, with Leo close behind with a 1:14.164, and Kevin’s 1:14.648. Andy turned a fine 1:20.708 in his Audi R8.

Qualifying was hard-fought and the guys jockeyed back and forth, first Blue, then Black Adder, then Blue. Green turned one of their best laps (1:14.019), but at the checkers, it was Leo on Pole with a very quick 1:13.707, then Black Adder (1:13.928), Green, Yellow (1:14.361) and the rest of the DP field. Andy qualified the GT3 team P11 (120.720); 3rd in class.

Leo had a good start and this time the green flag didn’t bite Mikey as he got past their Championship competitor Black Adder going into T1. They stayed nose to tail until the 1st caution came out on L4 when the first of many cars lost it in the infamous Road Atlanta Esses. Most cars stayed out, but Yellow pitted and came out P6. On green, it was Leo and Mikey 1-2 with Black Adder close behind.

On L12, another GT3 spins in the Esses causing the 2nd yellow. On green (L15), Leo gets a nice jump and Mikey maintains P2 despite relentless pressure from Black Adder. Andy moved up to P9 in GT3.

By L20, it’s Blue/Green running nose to tail and extending the lead over Black Adder. Kevin is firmly in P5 and running steadily with the lead pack. Andy has also move up a position to P8. A couple of laps later, Blue gets a drive through penalty for avoidable contact, but it looked like a netcode issue because there was clearly no contact with fellow teammate Shane Norton. But, on L24 the entire complexion of the race changed as Shane got loose in the Esses and had serious contact with the Black Adder C7 send them hard into the tires and… out of the race.

With Leo’s penalty, its Mikey to the lead, Kevin now in P3 and Leo back to P4; Andy is holding steady in P9, but now P2 in class as Shane’s Audi R8 is damaged. By L30, Mikey has a 10 second lead over P2 (Club HAM) and 15 second over Kevin. While the drive-through penalty had moved Leo back to P4, on L33 he moves to P3 passing Kevin on the main straight leading to T1.

By L50, its Mikey P1 with a 16 sec lead over P2 with Leo (P3) hounding P2, Kevin P5, and Andy moving up to P6 GT3 (P3 in class). With Leo pressuring the Club HAM car, on L52 at the top of T2, they let Leo by on the inside to take over P2. At lap 60, its vApex Green over Blue by 20 secs, Kevin P4, and Andy in P8 (GT3). Just a couple laps latter, Kevin gets a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact with a Black Added Mecedes GT3 on the entry to T1 ; he takes the drive-through and still maintains P4. By L70, Mikey has extended his lead to 23 seconds over Blue. Since his 1st pit, Mikey consistently set qualifing-type laps, steadily in the low- to mid-14s – rediculous… the guy’s got such talent.

On L83, Mikey pits and Dave hops in, but on exit, Leo closes quickly and eats into the previous lead. Dave, on cold tires quickly gets chewed up by Leo and has a bit of a boble in T7, and Leo, on a triple stint with hot tires, takes advantage on the exit and takes over the lead going down the back straight. The GSRC announcers were going crazying wonder about team rules.

Kevin, the "Master of Fuel Mileage", didn’t pit until lap 87 and Chuck, full of mind-altering drugs to relieve the Massive Migraine and serious arm issues, takes over (because Rick, who was supposed to sub for Chuck, was an idiot and registered for the “Red” team – Duh…). On L88, Andy gets a little loose going through the Esses and does a fantastic job of collecting the car without much damage to the right front. On the next lap though, at the bottom of the Essess, Andy attempted to even up the frontal reconfiguration by adjusting the left front of the Audi and continues on.

On L95, with Dave pressing HARD, he loses the rear-end exiting T5 and is REALLY lucky to have saved the cars because mishaps there usually end in tears. So, with only slight flat-spots in Dave’s tires, he continues on, losing only about 4 seconds. It could have been SO much worse, although with Black Adder’s retirement, the DGFX Championship was likely theirs… but there’s racing at stake!

By L100, with 3 hours 45 min to go, it’s Blue with a 8 second lead over Green. Chuck in Yellow is somehow maintaining P4 and Andy P8 (GT3; P3 in class). On L120, Leo pits from P1 and turned the car over to Russell with a 17 second lead over Dave in P2; Chuck, while seeing double and occasional fascinated by the blue bird flying around his car is holding P4. JC, who took over on L101, is dealing with close racing in P9.

On L124, Chuck pits from P4, but on exit, at the bottom of the Esses on cold tires, one of those blasted birds got inside the cockpit and while swatting it away, made a little aero adjustment to the right front of the car… He got the bird, but slipped back to P5.

The 2nd caution of the day came out on L132 for JC who spun exiting T6 and hit the inside wall 2, 3 or maybe 4 times – or at least that’s the way it appeared! So, the 14 second lead Russell had over Dave just evaporated !

When the pits open, several cars dive in, including Chuck and JC, but not Russell or Dave. On L138, with the pit stops and wave arounds complete, the green flag flies and the intense battle between vApex Blue and Green rages. At the exit of T7, Russell gets a little loose, not much, just a little bobble, but Dave pounds and completed the pass for the lead going into T10. Meanwhile, JC’s Audi gets repaired, but the repaired car still looks pretty damaged.

On L141, again… the infamous Road Atlanta Esses bite another competitor as Russell’s C7 got loose, swapped end, took heavy damage to the right rear, then crabbed back to pit road. Unfortunately, with the mishap, the pit crew had some work to do straightening up the car and lost a few laps. But, it seemed like everyone wanted to get into the aero adjustments, so on L144… again, at the bottom of the Esses, Dave adjusts the left front splitter to give the C7 a more gnarly look! By this time, the entire GT3 field, save a precious few, shows moderate to fairly severe body adjustments! You just gotta love those Road Atlanta Esses… With Russell’s damage, Team Green Team held a one lap lead.

On L161, Mikey settles back into the saddle, the crew readjusts the aero modification and voila – a new car and Mikey’s back on-track. With a little over 2 hours remaining, on L170, a couple of GT3 drivers tangle in T12 bringing out the 3rd caution. The running order at restart (L176) was: Green P1, Yellow P4, Blue P5, and vApex GT holding down P11 (GT3; 3rd in class).

Just 2 laps later… the Essess strike again as Russell gets loose near the bottom, spins the car around, makes heavy contact with a concrete wall at 150 mph, and does his best cock roach impression while finding out the why the breaks don’t work well when you’re on your top! Recognizing their days isn’t going to get better, Russell and Leo retire.

A little later, as Mikey turn into T1, the car twitched a little and the GSRC announcer again go wild! They repeatedly showed the replay of Mikey drifting the Corvette C7 through T1 at 150 mph, catching a little grass, then sliding all the way out the wall... then he gentle eases the C7 back on-track – all this without losing a position or damaging the car. Alien? Oh yeah, the boy is as cool as ice.

Through all the drama though, the 1 lap lead had dwindled to only 30 second when the 4th caution flew on L 215. Dave jumped back in and took over on L 217, with Club HAM now breathing down his neck. Meanwhile, Kevin has quietly moved up to P3 while Chuck rested comfortably in his recliner… done filling in for the idiot fill-in driver who registered for the wrong team. Ya know… a wise man once said: “It’s difficult to make thing idiot-proof.” Andy had also taken over for JC after his double-stint was holding P10 (GT3; 3rd in class). The drama continued on the restart as Club HAM and a GT3 were enjoying an intimate moment; meanwhile, Dave jumped out to a 9 sec lead with 50 minutes to go. Drama? Oh yeah… and every moment covered live on GSRC!

Well, with Dave confidently at the wheel, the race settled down some and he steadily continued to drive away from Club HAM. With 30 minutes remaining, he had pulled out a 1 minute lead. Kevin was firmly in P3 and Andy was holding P10 (GT3; 3rd in class). With about 10 minute remaining, Dave caught P2 and lapped them down the back stretch going into the T10A/B complex… still setting qualifying-type laps (low- to mid-1:14s)!

So, with 264 laps complete, Dave crosses the S/F line and wins, not only the race, but he and Mikey win the DGFX Championship! With Kevin and Chuck's perseverance, they finished P3 in the race, BUT... P2 in the DGFX Championship - edging out Black Adder by 6 points! Way to go guys!!! Andy and JC in vApex GT bring home of fine P10 (GT3; 3rd in class).

Congratulations to Dave & Mikey on their DGFX Championship and to Chuck and Kevin for their well-deserved 2nd place finish - vApex Racing Group 1-2 Yahoo!!! Fantastic guys – simply fantastic! Congrats also to Russell & Leo, and Andy & JC. Nice work guys… Well Done Gentleman…