Page 9 - 2021CalSpeedMagazineJan

IRONMAN RESULTS
1 24
2 59
3 56
4 46
5 51
6 49
7 25
8 53
9 47
10 39
Michael Hazlewood Andres Prieto Alyssa Yauney Paulo Franca
Ariel Rubio Diego Alvarado Evan Lawrence Evan Karp Sean Fite Ayrton DeMoss
Round 1 - Jan 16
Endurance racing at CalSpeed kicked off for the 2021 season with the opening round of the CalSpeed IronMan Series, taking to the Nuotivo circuit for the first event of the year. It was just the second
time the series had visited the layout, last used in the summer of 2019, and the return to the clockwise direction for the first time since the Classico GP weekend back in August. Drivers were welcomed to the track with near perfect conditions, but as things closed in on the green flag, the wind started to pick up, and by race time, it would play a big factor.
Things would start off with qualifying -the only time the series does not use the invert- and it would be Andres Prieto claiming the top spot, carrying his P3 overall from the previous year to kick off the new championship on the right foot. Joining him at the sharp end would be fellow podium finisher and P2 from 2020 Michael Hazlewood, and IronMan ace Alyssa Yauney to round out the top three. In the end those three would be the ones to beat, but they wouldn’t finish in that order...
Prieto would lead the field to the green, a more experienced field in its depth too, as new licensing requirements meant that every driver coming in was at least of a ‘silver license’ via the new CalSpeed licensing system. That basically meant that lapped traffic, or at least erratic traffic, probably would play less of a factor. With the wind however, not being with a drafting partner played a bigger part in the pit strategy.
Prieto may have led the field away, but the seasoned veterans around him knew they wanted to snag the bonus points early, and wasted little time to strike, with Hazlewood moving to the lead by lap 4, and then Yauney taking over on lap 8. Prieto would strike back on lap 10, but Yauney would claim the top spot a lap later, a lead she held for the next 15 circuits. With the top three settling down, their advantage over the 2019 champ Paulo Franca in 4th slowly began to grow, and by the time Paulo finally came in on lap 32, the gap to the lead trio was a little over 5 seconds. It was truly a three way fight for the win at that point...
With a healthy lead to 4th, the lead group would exchange positions a few more times, sometimes because of timing through traffic, with Prieto resuming his spot in the lead on lap 27, only to lose it 4 laps later to Yauney, who again would only hold onto it for a lap before Hazlewood took his second turn at the sharp end. This time, Michael would stay out front until the last ten or so minutes, when he would be the second of the trio to head into the pits, following Andres’ lead from the lap prior. Yauney would follow suit one lap later, and with the first set of stops in the books, it was again Hazlewood with the lead, Prieto in second, and Yauney third, but now intermixed with lapped traffic. Instead of nose to tail, they were spread out by a second, and each with drivers in between to fight through. This would be the turning point, as it became a game of cat and mouse through the obstacles of lappers, with Hazlewood making the most of the scenario, staying out until the final lap to not only maintain the lead, but increase his advantage over his rivals.
For their part, Prieto and Yauney would switch to their own battle, Prieto once again pitting first and Yauney a lap later, advantage Prieto, but with Yauney right on his heels. What ensued was a one on one battle amongst two very skilled drivers, this one coming down to the final corner, where the Colombian defended perfectly, keeping Alyssa at bay for the drag race to the line. Up the road a couple of seconds was Hazlewood, scoring the first win of the season, and starting off his 2021 IronMan Series campaign with maximum points, as he led the most laps as well...