Woods triumphs in Speedcafe eSeries Championship

Damon Woods has claimed his third race victory of the 2023 Speedcafe eSeries Championship season at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Woods took the chequered flag in the updated Porsche GT3 R ahead of Round 5 winner Mathew Dench and Simon Nicholson, claiming his first win since Round 2, that saw him commence the season with back-to-back race victories.

He took advantage of the one-vehicle swap available per season to change to the updated Porsche GT3 R car, going onto grab pole position with a 1.39.683s in qualifying, as he topped the timesheets ahead of Lachlan Caple and Dench.

He duly led the way at the race start, as Caple took advantage of a good jump to get down the inside of Dench to take P2, while Round 3 winner Ross Rizzo and Dan Yeaman raced side by side through most of the opening corners before settling down.

However, the opening lap was not without drama, as Sebastian Varndell’s Ferrari tagged the rear bumper of Marlon McMullen’s Mercedes at Turn 5, as cars scattered trying to avoid the incident.

The sausage-styled kerbs around the chicane in the middle of the lap at Turn 7/8 unsettled multiple cars, none more so than Seth Brown’s Ferrari that became airborne in a similar style to Scott McLaughlin’s IndyCar during recent testing at Road America.

After starting 34th, Dylan O’Shea had sliced his way through the field to move up to 17th by Lap 4.

Meanwhile, at the front of the field, Caple had a fight on his hands to hold onto second from Dench and Nicholson, before Dench claimed the position at Turn 7 on Lap 6.

Four laps later it was Nicholson’s turn to pass Dench, getting the move done at the hairpin on Lap 10 for third.

Disaster struck at the half-way mark of the race as a brake failure for Riley Bilson saw his Audi R8 cannon off into the tyre barrier at Turn 1, resulting in the Speedcafe Safety Car being deployed.

The entire field entered pitlane to take advantage of a free pit stop within the window to get home, before Woods led the way at  the re-start from Dench, Nicholson, Caple and Adam Willison.

Later that lap, Willison attempted a dive down the inside of Caple at the Turn 10 hairpin, miss his braking marker by mere metres as he was nudged wide by the latter, dropping down to 17th.

O’Shea relished in the re-start picking off Aaron Kuper and Rizzo before engaging Daniel Yeaman in a duel, with their battle resulting in a seven-car pack forming.

At the chequered flag, Woods finished 6.2s in the clear of Dench and Nicholson, as O’Shea made his way 30 spots to finish fourth.

Caple finished fifth ahead of Rizzo, Kuper, Yeaman as Simon Mezzomo and Willison rounded out the top 10.

The 2023 Speedcafe eSeries Championship next heads to Circuit Gilles Villenueve, Montreal, Canada for Round 7, with pre-qualifying to take place on June 16-21.

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

Speedcafe Series Championship Round 6 Results

Pos	Class Pos	Car	Class	Car #	Driver	Start Pos	Out		Interval	Laps Led	Average Lap Time	Fastest Lap Time	Fast Lap#	Laps Comp	Inc	Club
1	1		Hosted All Cars	56	Damon Woods	1	Running	Laps		25	1:48.386	1:39.225	16	25	3	Australia/NZ
2	2		Hosted All Cars	83	Mathew Dench	3	Running	Laps	-06.308	0	1:48.638	1:40.005	19	25	14	Australia/NZ
3	3		Hosted All Cars	16	Simon J Nicholson	4	Running	Laps	-06.898	0	1:48.661	1:40.068	19	25	15	Australia/NZ
4	4		Hosted All Cars	19	Dylan O’Shea	34	Running	Laps	-15.241	0	1:48.994	1:40.598	23	25	17	Australia/NZ
5	5		Hosted All Cars	18	Lachlan Caple	2	Running	Laps	-19.196	0	1:49.153	1:40.496	2	25	16	Australia/NZ
6	6		Hosted All Cars	784	Ross Rizzo	6	Running	Laps	-19.403	0	1:49.161	1:40.952	24	25	2	Australia/NZ
7	7		Hosted All Cars	105	Aaron Kuper2	8	Running	Laps	-21.455	0	1:49.243	1:41.201	2	25	7	Australia/NZ
8	8		Hosted All Cars	985	Daniel Yeaman	7	Running	Laps	-21.693	0	1:49.253	1:41.158	24	25	16	Australia/NZ
9	9		Hosted All Cars	954	Simon Mezzomo	9	Running	Laps	-24.833	0	1:49.379	1:40.888	17	25	10	Australia/NZ
10	10		Hosted All Cars	98	Adam Willison	5	Running	Laps	-27.397	0	1:49.481	1:41.033	11	25	17	Australia/NZ
11	11		Hosted All Cars	04	Luke Mitchinson	11	Running	Laps	-27.480	0	1:49.484	1:41.171	3	25	5	Australia/NZ
12	12		Hosted All Cars	52	Thomas Hinss	10	Running	Laps	-27.594	0	1:49.489	1:41.272	3	25	6	Australia/NZ
13	13		Hosted All Cars	117	Matt Bayley	15	Running	Laps	-28.178	0	1:49.512	1:41.381	21	25	18	Australia/NZ
14	14		Hosted All Cars	22	Rob Boaden	16	Running	Laps	-28.822	0	1:49.538	1:41.713	4	25	10	Australia/NZ
15	15		Hosted All Cars	84	Sebastian Flock	12	Running	Laps	-29.415	0	1:49.562	1:41.149	3	25	6	Australia/NZ
16	16		Hosted All Cars	5	Seth I Brown	22	Running	Laps	-31.399	0	1:49.641	1:41.505	17	25	17	Australia/NZ
17	17		Hosted All Cars	027	Jamie McKnight	28	Running	Laps	-32.418	0	1:49.681	1:42.018	19	25	1	Australia/NZ
18	18		Hosted All Cars	444	Sebastian Varndell	18	Running	Laps	-38.704	0	1:49.933	1:41.573	17	25	11	Australia/NZ
19	19		Hosted All Cars	85	Marlon J McMullen	20	Running	Laps	-40.185	0	1:49.992	1:41.786	17	25	17	Australia/NZ
20	20		Hosted All Cars	7	Andrew Dishot	30	Running	Laps	-40.796	0	1:50.016	1:42.211	17	25	5	Australia/NZ
21	21		Hosted All Cars	143	Daniel Vellacott	27	Running	Laps	-45.537	0	1:50.206	1:42.749	16	25	6	Australia/NZ
22	22		Hosted All Cars	61	Steven Bartholomew	23	Running	Laps	-47.751	0	1:50.295	1:42.085	18	25	15	Australia/NZ
23	23		Hosted All Cars	74	Chris Barns	19	Running	Laps	-48.375	0	1:50.320	1:42.021	19	25	8	Australia/NZ
24	24		Hosted All Cars	17	Zach Rattray-White	13	Running	Laps	-49.417	0	1:50.362	1:41.385	17	25	15	Australia/NZ
25	25		Hosted All Cars	53	Jackson Austin2	24	Running	Laps	-59.561	0	1:50.767	1:42.572	4	25	10	Australia/NZ
26	26		Hosted All Cars	124	Rob Carmichael	17	Running	Laps	-1:00.430	0	1:50.802	1:41.175	17	25	10	Australia/NZ
27	27		Hosted All Cars	39	Amar Sharma	31	Running	Laps	-1:06.982	0	1:51.064	1:43.096	19	25	22	Australia/NZ
28	28		Hosted All Cars	035	Robbie Bradbury	29	Running	Laps	-1:08.022	0	1:51.105	1:42.470	17	25	11	Australia/NZ
29	29		Hosted All Cars	222	Luke Di Berardino	36	Running	Laps	-1:20.337	0	1:51.598	1:43.033	19	25	22	Australia/NZ
30	30		Hosted All Cars	73	Shane Nouwens	32	Running	Laps	-1:25.944	0	1:51.822	1:43.887	25	25	12	Australia/NZ
31	31		Hosted All Cars	86	Chris Pellatt	26	Running	Laps	-1 L	0	1:53.285	1:42.538	17	24	20	Australia/NZ
32	32		Hosted All Cars	58	Alistair Bailes	21	Disconnected	Laps	-12 L	0	1:47.317	1:42.140	4	13	2	Australia/NZ
33	33		Hosted All Cars	995	Riley Bilson	14	Running	Laps	-13 L	0	2:05.436	1:44.447	11	12	18	Australia/NZ
34	34		Hosted All Cars	28	Atsushi Osafune	25	Running	Laps	-19 L	0	1:46.947	1:42.660	4	6	6	Japan