Murray dominates penultimate round of Porsche PAYCE & MICHELIN Virtual Cup
Cooper Murray takes his eighth race victory of the season in Le Mans
Round 5 of the Porsche PAYCE & Michelin Virtual Cup saw Championship leader, Cooper Murray, extend his lead in Mobil Pro class with three hard-fought victories in the three 20-minute virtual sprint races on the iRacing platform.
Murray made a clean start in Race 1 from pole position, to lead Cody Burcher and real-world Le Mans winner, Matt Campbell, into turn 1. The long straights of the iconic French circuit saw drafting playing a key role in the numerous battles through the field, with the front pairing swopping positions on several occasions in the opening laps.
Murray would then drop to fourth behind Burcher, Campbell, and Matthew Payne after a mistake onto the pit straight. The front quartet was in a race of their own after an early spin by Ryan Suhle split the chasing pack – Thomas Maxwell again an unlucky opening lap casualty.
Further back, Marc Cini had made his best start of the season to lead the Pro-am class in the early laps and was lying an impressive seventh overall. Cini would run wide and later spin while chasing down Max Vidau, handing Sonic Motor Racing race engineer, Jaidyn Job, the lead which he would hold to the flag.
Cini would hang on for second in class with the ever-consistent Graham Williams in third. At the front, Matt Campbell had made his way past Burcher and while embroiled in the battle for the lead, made contact with the young Formula Ford star, sending both off track and down the order.
This left the door open for Murray and Payne to take the top two positions from Burcher in third. The damage sustained by Campbell as a result of the accident saw him eventually limp home in seventh.
Race 2 saw Murray make a clean start followed by Matthew Payne. The young New Zealand karting ace would make a mistake however, exiting the famed Tertre Rouge and fall down the running order.
Murray and Burcher would then scrap for the next laps for the lead, before the inevitable contact between the pair, saw Burcher again relegated down the order. Murray would go onto claim the race win, with a 7.5-second advantage over his McElrea Racing teammate, Harri Jones, with Campbell recovering to third.
Despite contact with Christian Pancione while ninth, Jaidyn Job would regain the Pro-Am lead from Marc Cini in the second half of the race, with Graham Williams again third in class. Repeating the same results as Race 1.
The final race of the evening saw Campbell spin while following Murray and Jones into the first turn. Job also ran-wide on the same corner, handing the Pro-Am Lead to Sergio Pires.
Jones would eventually lose touch with Murray and fall back into the clutches of Payne. After clearing Jones and gradually closing the gap to Murray, Payne would carry too much speed into the same chicane as Jones did laps later, handing the Helimods driver back second place. The McElrea Racing teammates would hold that advantage to the end of the race, with an unlucky Burcher recovering to third.
Cini would overtake Pires for victory in the Pro-Am class, with Matthew Belford in third – extending his Pro-Am class lead to 40 points over Graham Williams heading into the final round at Silverstone on the 13 July.
All three races from Round 5 will be shown on both the @PorscheMotorsportAU Youtube channel and Facebook page at 20:00 (Melbourne time) on Friday evening.
Results: Round 5, Le Mans
Race 1
Mobil Pro
1. Cooper Murray
2. Matthew Payne
3. Cody Burcher
Pro-Am
1. Jaidyn Job
2. Marc Cini
3. Graham Williams
Race 2
Mobil Pro
1. Cooper Murray
2. Harri Jones
3. Matt Campbell
Pro-Am
1. Jaidyn Job
2. Mark Cini
3. Graham Williams
Race 3
Mobil Pro
1. Cooper Murray
2. Harri Jones
3. Cody Burcher
Pro-Am
1. Marc Cini
2. Sergio Pires
3. Matthew Belford
Sources: Angus Thompson/Porsche Cars Australia PR