Wilson Adds Interlagos Win To Early eNASCAR Hot Streak

SÃO PAULO, Brazil – If his start to the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season is any indication, Steven Wilson is easily the early championship favorite once again.

Wilson, 23, reinforced that point Tuesday night at the virtual Autódromo José Carlos Pace – colloquially known as Interlagos – with a flag-to-flag victory after passing sprint race winner and feature polesitter Vicente Salas on the opening lap.

From there, Wilson’s No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet controlled all 24 laps of the main event, eventually taking a 1.357-second win over perennial title contender Bobby Zalenski.

It marked the 11th win of the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native’s career, breaking a tie with 2015 champion Kenny Humpe for seventh on the series’ all-time win list.

“I know I'm close [on speed] with Vicente, Bobby, and Parker (White) … and usually test against Parker because we’re on the same setup teams, so we know we’re in the same ballpark in qualifying and race pace,” Wilson said. “So seeing [Zalenski] mess up on a [qualifying] lap was honestly a little breather for me. That made for one less guy I felt like I had to worry about.

“But already having one road course win back in 2022 and … beating Mitchell deJong for it, who I would consider probably one of the better road course guys on iRacing as a whole, I do feel like I have pace at the road courses. We just don’t always hit it on the setup, but we hit it really good for this race. It’s cool to win on road courses and ovals; at this stage, I’m confident we can be fast no matter where we go.”

With no cautions to speak of – as is the traditional format for eNASCAR road course events – the biggest moments of the race were Wilson’s winning move on Salas at the start and a spin by Nick Ottinger early on that forced the William Byron eSports driver to fight through the field from deep after starting eighth.

In the end, it was a second half move by Zalenski as Salas faded that gave runner-up honors to the No. 22 ERA eSports Chevrolet, marking Zalenski’s first top-five finish of the still-young season.

Zalenski tipped afterward that he was close on speed, but lacked just a bit to be able to contend with Wilson for the victory down the stretch.

“My stuff was a little burned up in the front [tires] because I was in dirty air for the whole race,” Zalenski noted. “I was glad Vicente let me by when he did [in the main], because he locked up [the brakes] in turn one on lap one of the sprint and knocked me out of position … and I would have loved to have been second in that one. But the three of us – me, Vicente, and Steven – were so fast that you just needed track position to be able to get away and succeed.

“I thought I had an edge on [raw] speed on them, but sometimes the circumstances don’t quite go your way and they didn’t in this one for us. Not a bad run, just not quite the win we wanted out of it.”

Salas hung on for the final spot on the podium in a home race for his team owner, Tony Kanaan, followed by Casey Kirwan and defending series champion Parker White – who crossed the finish line side by side.

Fast qualifier Jordy Lopez, Dylan Ault, Zack Novak and Dylan Duval, and William Byron eSports’ Tucker Minter closed out the top 10. Ottinger rallied to finish 17th.

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season continues Tuesday night, March 25 at the virtual Richmond (Va.) Raceway. Wilson is the defending race winner at the three-quarter-mile short track.

Coverage begins at 8 p.m. ET, live on the iRacing eSports Network at eNASCAR.com/live.

A replay of every eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series event is available via iRacing’s YouTube channel.

The results:

Race (24 laps): 1. 77-Steven Wilson [2], 2. 22-Bobby Zalenski [3], 3. 11-Vicente Salas [1], 4. 24-Casey Kirwan [6], 5. 95-Parker White [7], 6. 89-Jordy Lopez [9], 7. 47-Dylan Ault [4], 8. 2-Zack Novak [5], 9. 199-Dylan Duval [20], 10. 97-Tucker Minter [10], 11. 99-Garrett Lowe [11], 12. 29-Jimmy Mullis [13], 13. 34-Michael Cosey Jr. [24], 14. 12-Ryan Luza [12], 15. 42-Logan Clampitt [21], 16. 50-Quentin Warman [14], 17. 25-Nick Ottinger [8], 18. 62-Matt Bussa [15], 19. 69-Tyler Garey [31], 20. 40-Connor Yeroschak [32], 21. 66-Alexander Russell [17], 22. 5-Nate Stewart [22], 23. 36-Quami Scott [37], 24. 21-Michael Guest [30], 25. 39-Daniel Faulkingham [23], 26. 3-Blaze Crawford [38], 27. 8-Blake McCandless [25], 28. 19-Eddie Kerner [26], 29. 7-Femi Olatunbosun [35], 30. 17-Timmy Holmes [34], 31. 98-Cody Byus [33], 32. 51-Donovan Strauss [27], 33. 88-Briar LaPradd [36], 34. 6-Collin Bowden [39], 35. 15-Kollin Keister [29], 36. 96-Christopher Hill [40], 37. 33-Taylor Hurst [18], 38. 48-Graham Bowlin [16], 39. 1-Malik Ray [28], 40. 14-Seth DeMerchant [19].

Lead Changes: One among two drivers.

Lap Leader(s): Vicente Salas Grid, Steven Wilson 1-24.

Laps Led: Steven Wilson 24.

Hard Charger: 36-Quami Scott (+14)

Fastest Qualifier: 90-Jordy Lopez; 1 minute, 36.025 seconds (100.361 mph); second career and first of season

Sprint Winner: 11-Vicente Salas, Tony Kanaan eSports

Rookie of the Race: 50-Quentin Warman (16th)

Caution Flags: None

Winning Team: Spire Motorsports

Margin of Victory: 1.357 seconds

Time of Race: 38 minutes, 34.965 seconds

Average Speed: 99.912 mph

Fastest Lap: 95-Parker White; 1 minute, 35.585 seconds (100.823 mph)