Carmichael takes Speedcafe eSeries Championship victory at Sandown

Rob Carmichael has claimed his maiden Speedcafe eSeries Championship race victory at Sandown International Motor Raceway.

The most dramatic race of the season featured crashes and penalties for key contenders, as Carmichael went onto claim victory from points leader Matthew Dench and Chris Ireland.

Carmichael demonstrated race-winning speed in Qualifying, with Race 1 and Race 2 winner Damon Woods, Race 3 winner Ross Rizzo, Lachlan Caple and Luke Mitchinson also on the pace early, as Dench struggled.

Pole was claimed late in the session by Dylan O’Shea, setting a 1.06.552s to edge out Woods and Rizzo for P1.

O’Shea would lead the way from pole, as trouble struck on the opening lap with the sixth-placed Mercedes of Aaron Borg and seventh-placed BMW of Luke Mitchinson coming together and spinning in front of the field, resulting in a Safety Car.

As the race resumed, O’Shea was immediately under threat from Woods, with the latter attempting a dive at the end of the back straight on Lap 7, bouncing over the inside kerbing and into the side of O’Shea, turning the latter in front of the field.

Caple, Dench, Rizzo and a host of others would pick up contact in the incident with Caple collecting the tyre barriers before returning to the track in 13th.

After the dust settled on that moment, Woods led proceedings from Rizzo and Chris Ireland, before the race leader was issued a drive-through penalty on Lap 10.

Less than a lap later another car would spin and be stuck on the exit of Turn 1, with Gordon Smith’s Mercedes triggering the second Safety Car of the night as he collected O’Shea.

Resultantly, Woods took to pit lane to serve his penalty, whilst the balance of the field pitted to fill up and attempt the run home.

Woods’ attempt to serve his penalty under Safety Car was noted by Stewards, resulting in the #56 BMW driver being issued another penalty for failing to serve the penalty under green flag conditions.

Consequently, this left Rizzo in control of the field from Ireland, Dench, Carmichael and Sebastien Flock, as Caple gained two spots into 11th.

Following the re-start, an aggressive Caple put himself into contention by picking off a car a lap for the first few laps, as Dench moved past Ireland for second at Turn 4 and run off in pursuit of Rizzo.

Ireland then engaged Carmichael in battle, with the pair making contact at Turn 1 with 10 minutes on the clock, with the former dropping out of contention, as Carmichael was elevated to third.

In the final minutes of the race Rizzo was forced to defend from Dench, who attacked on the outside of Turn 1, with contact between the pairing resulting in both drivers spinning, with Carmichael going on to take victory from Dench and Ireland.

Round 5 of the Speedcafe eSeries Championship will take place at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari (Imola), with Pre-Qualifying to take place on May 19 – 24.

Register here for the Speedcafe eSeries Championship to get involved in the high-speed GT3 category.

2023 Speedcafe eSeries Championship Round 4 Results

Fin	St	Driver	iRacing License	Tot Pts	Race Pts	Bns Pts	Pen Pts	Int	Laps	Laps Led	Fastest Lap	Fast Lap #	Avg Lap	Inc	Status	Car #	Fast Laps	Qual Time	Total Passes	SR	iRating
1	10	R Carmichael	Class A	53	50	3		–	37	3	1:07.064	17	1:13.961	0	Running	124		1:06.998		4.54	4670
2	5	M Dench	Class A	45	45			-0.388	37		1:07.089	27	1:13.971	8	Running	83		1:06.702		2.31	7287
3	8	C Ireland	Class B	35	35			-1.594	37		1:07.153	16	1:14.004	8	Running	623		1:06.872		2.41	3163
4	4	L Caple	Class A	38	38			-3.935	37		1:07.068	19	1:14.067	6	Running	20		1:06.691		4.70	5117
5	15	J Knight	Class A	39	36	3		-9.637	37		1:07.435	26	1:14.221	0	Running	092		1:07.288		4.99	2686
6	7	A Borg	Class B	34	34			-10.578	37		1:07.206	6	1:13.427	7	Running	18		1:06.871		4.01	2791
7	3	R Rizzo	Class A	32	32			-11.182	37	25	1:07.053	17	1:14.263	8	Running	784		1:06.666		4.94	5315
8	9	B Dowel	Class B	30	30			-12.130	37		1:07.228	16	1:14.288	6	Running	9		1:06.879		2.49	2744
9	27	R Bradbury	Class A	31	28	3		-16.727	37		1:07.731	16	1:14.412	0	Running	035		1:07.764		4.96	3493
10	2	D Woods	Class A	27	26	1		-17.987	37	3	1:06.844	19	1:15.075	4	Running	56		1:06.562		3.35	9804
11	13	R Boaden	Class A	24	24			-18.662	37		1:07.519	16	1:14.465	10	Running	16		1:07.159		4.50	5119
12	18	M McMullen	Class A	22	22			-19.078	37		1:07.463	35	1:14.476	4	Running	85		1:07.422		4.99	6719
13	6	L Mitchinson	Class A	15	15			-20.351	37		1:07.222	19	1:14.511	11	Running	04		1:06.817		3.56	4417
14	19	J Austin2	Class A	19	19			-20.527	37		1:07.603	6	1:14.515	1	Running	53		1:07.463		4.56	2770
15	17	S Mezzomo	Class A	18	18			-20.999	37		1:07.592	5	1:14.528	5	Running	954		1:07.359		2.30	4020
16	21	R Green2	Class A	7	7			-21.755	37		1:07.688	16	1:14.548	4	Running	127		1:07.486		2.10	2112
17	23	B Shepherd	Class A	16	16			-22.204	37		1:07.604	17	1:14.560	3	Running	55		1:07.538		2.54	3771
18	24	A Osafune	Class A	18	15	3		-29.208	37		1:08.014	24	1:14.750	0	Running	018		1:07.607		3.56	3028
19	29	C Barns	Class A	14	14			-29.516	37		1:07.792	32	1:14.758	1	Running	74		1:08.106		1.58	2693
20	22	F Beaumont	Class B	13	13			-31.733	37		1:07.871	6	1:14.818	5	Running	8		1:07.518		3.65	2540
21	11	S Flock	Class A	12	12			-31.922	37		1:07.027	17	1:14.823	5	Running	84		1:07.081		4.43	4701
22	16	A Kuper2	Class A	11	11			-34.030	37		1:07.353	32	1:14.880	13	Running	105		1:07.323		4.58	5067
23	12	Z Rattray-White	Class A	10	10			-39.441	37		1:07.546	10	1:12.343	14	Running	17		1:07.084		4.13	4055
24	14	T Hinss	Class A	9	9			-50.737	37		1:07.402	6	1:15.332	13	Running	52		1:07.266		4.22	5500
25	33	D Vellacott	Class B	9	9			-54.552	37		1:08.664	20	1:15.434	11	Running	143		1:08.805		3.04	1201
26	28	C Edwards2	Class C	3	3			-54.666	37		1:08.226	8	1:15.438	4	Running	46		1:07.903		3.47	1738
27	30	A Dishot	Class B	8	8			-57.306	37		1:08.295	27	1:15.509	15	Running	37		1:08.112		3.69	1878
28	25	W Hewitt	Class A	7	7			-58.938	37		1:07.913	16	1:15.553	4	Running	72		1:07.657		4.99	2765
29	39	M Cochran	Class A	7	7			-1L	36		1:08.184	8	1:16.282	10	Running	39		–		2.55	1135
30	20	S Bartholomew	Class A	6	6			-1L	36		1:07.554	16	1:17.338	8	Running	61		1:07.483		3.05	2743
31	32	S Nouwens	Class C	6	6			-2L	35		1:09.022	30	1:17.653	14	Running	73		1:08.785		2.36	607
32	36	J Bence	Class A	5	5			-3L	34		1:07.427	30	1:21.339	15	Running	100		–		4.66	4619
33	34	J Moloney	Class A	5	5			-4L	33		1:07.095	15	1:15.469	12	Running	35		–		4.99	7090
34	26	A Bailes	Class A	4	4			-8L	29		1:08.005	26	1:16.955	5	Disconnected	58		1:07.714		4.87	1724
35	31	G Smith2	Class A	4	4			-11L	26		1:08.416	21	1:35.034	17	Running	144		1:08.284		1.19	1925
36	38	H Cardamone	Class B	3	3			-12L	25		1:08.281	10	1:15.352	8	Running	38		–		2.63	1534
37	1	D O’Shea	Class A	4	3	1		-27L	10	6	1:07.179	9	1:21.940	8	Disconnected	19		1:06.552		4.99	6289

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