Caple clinches maiden Speedcafe eSeries Championship race victory

A masterclass drive from Lachlan Caple saw him steer his way to victory in Round 7 of the Speedcafe eSeries Championship at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Caple showed stout defence to claim his maiden victory in the eSeries, taking the chequered flag ahead of points leader Mathew Dench and Aaron Kuper.

Highlighting the competitiveness of the eSeries, Caple’s victory saw him become the fifth different winner from seven rounds this season, after Damon Woods, Ross Rizzo, Rob Carmichael and Dench.

In Qualifying 1, Zach Rattray-White set the benchmark with a 1:34.369s, before Damon Woods went onto claim pole position in Qualifying 2 after laying down a time of 1:33.185s.

At the drop of the green flag, Woods led the way from Caple and Dench, as Rattray-White’s Mercedes made contact with the rear bumper of Adam Willison’s Porsche on the opening lap.

Rattray-White went onto lose nine spots as part of a bid to redress but was ultimately slapped with a drive-through penalty for the clash.

After starting fourth, Kuper commenced a race-long battle with Dench, passing him for third, early in the 45-minute outing.

Shortly afterwards, Sebastien Varndell became the first victim of the infamous ‘Wall of Champions,’ resulting in a pitstop to repair the right rear quarter of his Lamborghini.

An early mover in the race was Thomas Hinns, who moved up six spots from 11th to fifth in his Mercedes, to head the second pack of cars, as Woods stretched out his lead to 4.5s.

Technical problems for Marlon McMullen’s Mercedes saw Jame McKnight with nowhere to go, causing a multi-car pile-up.

The incident resulted in the Speedcafe.com Safety Car being deployed, with the entire field of cars filing into pit lane, barring Woods and Chris Barns.

At the re-start, Woods led the way from Barns, Caple, Dench and Kuper.

Caple dived down the inside of Barns for second at the hairpin on Lap 16, before Dench made his way past the duo to take the effective race lead, with Woods yet to complete his compulsory pit stop.

The following lap, Dench made an error that resulted in contact with the Wall of Champions, handing the spot back to Caple, with Kuper managing to sneak on through for third.

Caple assumed the race lead when Woods filed into pit lane for his stop on Lap 17 and was forced to hold-off Kuper and Dench, with Hinss three seconds in arrears in fourth.

Dench made his way up to second with two laps to go, where he would go onto the finish the race.

Caple went onto seal his maiden victory in the Speedcafe eSeries Championship ahead of Dench, with Kuper rounding out the podium.

Sebastian Flock was fourth, ahead of Hinss in fifth, with Woods charging back through the field to sixth from 15th.

Rob Boaden, Carmichael, Rattray-White and Jordan Pagett rounded out the top 10.

Round 8 of the 2023 Speedcafe eSeries Championship will take place at the Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Austria on July 7, with pre-qualifying to take place from June 30 – July 5.

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

2023 Speedcafe eSeries Championship Round 7 Results

1	1		Hosted All Cars	18	Lachlan Caple	2	Running	Laps		10	1:42.051	1:34.295	17	27	4	Australia/NZ
2	2		Hosted All Cars	83	Mathew Dench	3	Running	Laps	-00.494	0	1:42.069	1:34.445	26	27	4	Australia/NZ
3	3		Hosted All Cars	105	Aaron Kuper2	4	Running	Laps	-04.173	0	1:42.205	1:34.287	18	27	4	Australia/NZ
4	4		Hosted All Cars	84	Sebastian Flock	7	Running	Laps	-13.126	0	1:42.537	1:35.221	6	27	0	Australia/NZ
5	5		Hosted All Cars	52	Thomas Hinss	11	Running	Laps	-13.348	0	1:42.545	1:35.366	15	27	4	Australia/NZ
6	6		Hosted All Cars	56	Damon Woods	1	Running	Laps	-14.021	17	1:42.570	1:33.411	15	27	1	Australia/NZ
7	7		Hosted All Cars	16	Rob Boaden	14	Running	Laps	-15.581	0	1:42.627	1:35.113	14	27	8	Australia/NZ
8	8		Hosted All Cars	124	Rob Carmichael	13	Running	Laps	-17.845	0	1:42.711	1:35.415	24	27	0	Australia/NZ
9	9		Hosted All Cars	17	Zach Rattray-White	6	Running	Laps	-19.229	0	1:42.763	1:35.055	7	27	10	Australia/NZ
10	10		Hosted All Cars	23	Jordan Pagett	9	Running	Laps	-19.528	0	1:42.774	1:34.680	26	27	10	Australia/NZ
11	11		Hosted All Cars	444	Sebastian Varndell	10	Running	Laps	-22.701	0	1:42.891	1:35.083	6	27	11	Australia/NZ
12	12		Hosted All Cars	61	Steven Bartholomew	17	Running	Laps	-22.817	0	1:42.895	1:35.401	25	27	1	Australia/NZ
13	13		Hosted All Cars	947	Tyler Blackburn	15	Running	Laps	-23.755	0	1:42.930	1:35.243	14	27	3	Australia/NZ
14	14		Hosted All Cars	097	Braden Oloughlin	20	Running	Laps	-38.818	0	1:43.488	1:36.243	15	27	7	Australia/NZ
15	15		Hosted All Cars	027	Jamie McKnight	16	Running	Laps	-46.149	0	1:43.759	1:35.768	23	27	4	Australia/NZ
16	16		Hosted All Cars	74	Chris Barns	18	Running	Laps	-46.731	0	1:43.781	1:35.369	15	27	2	Australia/NZ
17	17		Hosted All Cars	73	Shane Nouwens	22	Running	Laps	-55.644	0	1:44.111	1:37.225	24	27	6	Australia/NZ
18	18		Hosted All Cars	39	Amar Sharma	19	Running	Laps	-1:39.639	0	1:45.740	1:36.124	21	27	14	Australia/NZ
19	19		Hosted All Cars	7	Andrew Dishot	21	Running	Laps	-1 L	0	1:48.703	1:36.892	19	26	8	Australia/NZ
20	20		Hosted All Cars	85	Marlon J McMullen	12	Running	Laps	-2 L	0	1:52.065	1:35.518	17	25	4	Australia/NZ
21	21		Hosted All Cars	100	Jason Bence	8	Disconnected	Laps	-3 L	0	1:44.245	1:35.158	16	24	1	Australia/NZ
22	22		Hosted All Cars	98	Adam Willison	5	Running	Laps	-15 L	0	2:01.438	1:35.351	8	12	8	Australia/NZ

2023 Speedcafe eSeries Championship Points Standings