Woods goes back-to-back in Speedcafe eSeries Championship

Damon Woods has claimed back-to-back victories in the 2023 Speedcafe eSeries Championship, triumphing in Round 2 at Road America.

Woods took the chequered flag in the #56 BMW by 4.7 seconds over Matthew Dench’s Ferrari, with Lachlan Caple rounding out the podium in a Mercedes-AMG.

In the preceding Qualifying session, Chris Ireland (BMW) was on the pace early, setting a benchmark of 2.03.023s.

Most drivers would have issues with bringing their tyres into the optimum ranges for their qualifying laps and that would leave Ireland at the top of the timesheets through to the next group of qualifying.

In the ‘Fast 15’ shootout, the race to go to the top would be between Dench and Woods, with the latter coming out on top with a 2.02.398s.

This would set the grid with all four manufacturers inside the top seven cars.

At the drop of the green flag,  Woods led the way into Turn 1, as Mitchell Mcleod and Rob Boaden (BMW) found trouble at the opening corner.

Later in the lap, early qualifying pacesetter Ireland would spin and narrowly avoid the barriers, dropping him from third to 25th.

At the head of the field, Woods led Dench who settled in behind and looked to be conserving tyres and fuel in the early parts of the race.

From there, the duo broke away from the rest of the field, which settled into a rhythm, targeting the pit window opening between 20 and 25 minutes into the race.

A head-to-head battle ensued between Jarryd Knight’s BMW and Thomas Hinns’ Mercedes, with the duel continuing throughout the 45 minutes of the race.

Dench started to lift the pace just before the midpoint of the race and go after Wood which lead to a mistake and contact with the wall.

The consequent steering damage would hamper his pace and lock him into second place.

The big winner out of the pit cycle was 17-year-old Lachlan Caple in the #18 Mercedes.

Caple was aggressive early, after qualifying outside of the top 10, moving into sixth before the stops before making several spots through the lane, minimising the time of his pit stop.

After the pit cycle was completed, Hewitt’s Lamborghini resumed the race in third ahead of Caple’s Mercedes in fourth, before the latter surpassed him for third in a stunning drive from 12th on the grid.

Hewitt would then continue to struggle inside the final 10 minutes of the race, before catching the inside grass at the final turn sending him back to 15th, with his streak of bad luck continuing.

Another spin on the final lap of the race dropped him outside of the top 20.

At the chequered flag, it was Woods from Dench, with Caple rounding out the podium.

Luke Mitchinson (BMW) was fourth from Adam Willison (Porsche) in fifth, with Andre Yousiff (Ferrari), Aaron Kuper (BMW), Flock, Ben Faulkner (Lamborghini) and Hinns rounding out the top 10.

Round 3 of the 2023 Speedcafe eSeries Championship will take place at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit on Friday, April 28.

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