PWCOM Season 1 Summary: The Un-Televised Rounds 8-15

PWCOM Season 1 Summary: The Un-Televised Rounds 8-15
PWCOM “rebirth” had started out with a bang. Fans from across the globe were intrigued and excited, the drivers had begun to make their names known, and the ARCSOA/PWCOM series rivalry was beginning to brew. It was looking to be a great and promising future for the series, and after record views for Round 7 @HaNegev, the series really began to show major growth... Until all of a sudden it stopped.

You see, not only was it a surprise to PWCOM officials at how well the series was growing, it was also a major surprise to the Television and Network providers for the series. OLINA Sports Network and PWCOM had never signed an official deal, expecting the series to be rather limited in it's opening season. When it became apparent that the series was much bigger both Nationally and Internationally then expected, both sides came together to attempt to make an official broadcasting deal. Unfortunately, what started out as a calm conversation quickly turned into a very difficult situation, as each side was rather far apart when it came to making a deal.

And so sadly, in the time that it took for both sides to agree on an official contract, PWCOM's season had to continue, Un-televised. OLINA and PWCOM would eventually agree on a contract, however it was decided that it would start for Season 2.

So here is a summary of the remainder of PWCOM Season 1, with the finishing results and Championship standings after each race. We are excited to be bringing you back PWCOM for it's 2nd Season, with hopes that it will be even better then the 1st one! Stay tuned to see the teams and drivers that will be returning for S2, as well as any new entries into the series.
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Round 8 @Bathurst
Arthur Löwenherz would grab the Prytech Phones pole at Bathurst, but it would be outside pole starter Audra Baranauskas who would take the lead. It was a difficult race not only to pass, but on lap 12 Nicolas Lothaire-Irvine would blow up from the 5th position, backing up the rest of the field behind him and giving the Top 4 a huge gap over the rest of the field. As the race went along, Baranauskas would slowly pull away, and despite Löwenherz's best efforts, he would end up going from wire-to-wire and winning the race.

Finishing Results after Bathurst:

Points Standings after Bathurst:

Round 9 @Shanghai
Kitsune Hashimoto would grab the Prytech Phones pole at Shanghai, but on the pace lap it was clear that weather would play a factor throughout the race, as light rain would cause some chaos, including a Lap 2 crash that involved Löwenherz, Lublin, and Thaber. There would also be an exciting battle between Lucia Delacroix and Sebastian Maynard between laps 4-7. At that point Rena Hirose would join the battle and end up taking the lead from the both of them.

At lap 17, strategy pit stops would begin, but with the light rain falling down there were some drivers that drove extremely conservative and would end up saving fuel in the process; But none more then Austin Stonewall, who's conservative driving and fuel mileage strategy would end up allowing him to stay on track, make it all the way on fuel, and end up winning by an ENTIRE lap!  

Finishing Results after Shanghai:

Points Standings after Shanghai:

Round 10: The Irish Hills 400 @Michigan
The biggest race in PWCOM started with Audra Baranauskas on the pole, but early on SkyTech Racing team was the team to beat. Erzhan Zhumabekov and Lucia Delacroix would swap the lead back and forth, until a 2 car crash between Wallach and Vincent during the middle of green flag stops on lap 44 would completely change the momentum of the race. One driver that was majorly affected was Championship points leader Arthur Lowenherz, who would be put in front of the leaders as the last car on the lead lap. Ryder Smith, Austin Stonewall, and Tanet Aromdee would swap the lead for the next 50 laps, and amazingly Lowenherz was able to stay on the lead lap till the halfway caution break.

During the pit stops at the halfway break, Erzhan Zhumabekov would have major problems on pit road, and his car would be low on power for the rest of the race, effectively taking him out of the running. Moshe Gurion would lead the field for the restart, but shortly after the restart there would be a big wreck, mainly involving Marley, Fitzwater, and  Anderson, and taking out Marley and Anderson.

The last part of the race would involve some major pit strategy, with green flag pit stops starting on lap 142 with some drivers expecting a caution to come out before the end of the race, while others would attempt to save fuel hoping for the race to go green. The race would end up going green the rest of the way, and on lap 186 the last round of pit stops would happen. With 11 to go the leaders would begin to come in, and it became apparent that it would be too far to stretch it on fuel. With 5 laps to go, the last car who attempted the saving fuel strategy(Joshua Hyatt) would come in pit road, and the ending would  make a 5 car battle for the win. But in the end, Audra Baranauskas would take the lead at the right time, and would be able to hold off the field to win the Irish Hills 400!!

Finishing Results after Michigan:

Points Standings after Michigan:

Round 11 @DuQuion
Audra Baranauskas would grab the Prytech Phones pole at DuQuion, and would lead the early part of the race. On lap 19 Kitsune Hashimoto would spin herself out, collecting Johann Arndt and knocking Arndt out of the race. On the restart Seppo Nare would take the lead, but Erzhan Zhumabekov would begin to climb his way to the front of the field, and end up taking the lead on lap 44. A caution on lap 81 when Moshe Gurion broke down in the middle of the track would bring one final restart, but that #3 car would end up being too strong on the final restart, and  Erzhan Zhumabekov would take the win at DuQuion.

Finishing Results after DuQuion:

Points Standings after DuQuion:

Round 12 @Texas
Lucia Delacroix would grab the Prytech Phones pole at Texas, and would have one of the strongest cars of the season. A clean race throughout would turn the event into a major fuel mileage strategy race, and despite having the strongest car(and possibly because of how strong she was), Delacroix would run out of fuel with just 5 laps to go, and in a shocking turn of events would turn the battle for the lead between the Windhelm Motorworks teammates of Stanton Thaber and Austin Stonewall, with Thaber able to hold off his teammate for the most unlikeliest of wins at Texas!

Finishing Results after Texas:

Points Standings after Texas:

Round 13 @Mexico
Nicholas Lothaire-Irvine would surprisingly grab the Prytech Phones pole at Mexico, and would almost more surprisingly would be able to lead the early part of the race, staving off several charges from Lucia Delacroix. But Delacroix would finally be able to make the pass on lap 12 to take the lead. Pit flag pit stops would begin on lap 23, where Arthur Lowenherz's team would have a fantastic pit stop, going from 5th place to the lead, while Lothaire-Irvine would have a slow pit stop and fall from 2nd to 6th.

But it wouldn't be long until Delacroix would end up getting the lead back, and with 11 laps to go would be able to take the lead from Lowenherz. Lothaire-Irvine would make a rapid climb through the field, going from 6th to 2nd in just 4 laps, but unfortunately it was too late to catch the #4, and Lucia Delacroix would take the win at Mexico!

Finishing Results after Mexico:

Points Standings after Mexico:

---Championship Storylines with 2 races to go---

Championship Storylines with 2 races to go:

Round 14 @Talledega
Erzhan Zhumabekov would grab the Prytech Phones pole at Talledega, but the big news would be Arthur Lowenherz starting last. Talledega is always a crazy race, and this race would be no different. From the drop of the green flag the drivers were going 3 and 4-wide, and it became apparent that the big one was very close to happening. The VanquishTech team would hook up and go from the back of the field to the front in just over 2 laps, between laps 8-10. Too bad that wouldn't last long, as they would get put on high and start falling back.

On lap 14 it finally happened. You can only go 4 wide so much, and finally the wreck happened. Surprisingly only 4 cars was involved, but not without Austin Stonewall getting turned and flipping in turn 3.  Lublin, Sousa Cardoso, and Anderson were also involved in the incident, but amazingly only Stonewall fell out of the race. When the green flag came back out, it started out much calmer. Cicarelli Barakated would control the middle portion of the race, but the racing would start to ramp up with 10 laps to go. Tanet Aromdee would take the lead with 6 to go, but would get too big of a lead, and get “eaten up” by the pack. The lead really started switching back and forth, and the pack was getting more and more antsy.

With 3 laps to go it struck. Nicholas Lothaire-Irvine would get turned and go up and over, collecting Maynard and Hashimoto in the process. It became a race to the line, and the #20 of Nathan McKane would have the lead coming to the caution flag, and would take the win at Talledega! And more importantly, while Arthur Lowenherz would end up finishing in 18th place, Audra Baranauskas would come home in 2nd place, picking up 80 points! The Championship wasn't quite over after all!

Finishing Results after Talledega:

Points Standings after Talledega:

---FINALE CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE---

FINALE CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE:

Round 15: The Season Finale at Homestead
Nathan McKane would grab the Prytech Phones pole at Homestead, but there would be a shocking turn of events when both championship contenders Audra Baranauskas and Arthur Lowenherz would both hit the wall on their qualifying laps, forcing them to backup cars and starting in the last row. The race would start out rather wildly, with the lead being passed around multiple times in the opening 20 laps, including drivers like David Lublin and Max Anderson. Eventually, Max Anderson would be able to take and hold the lead, and begin to settle in through the middle portion of the race.

The big question everyone wondered was how the 2 Championship contenders would handle having to go from the back to the front in fresh backup cars that hadn't had a single lap of practice on them. It became apparent early on that while Baranauskas's car wasn't that far off, and she would eventually move her way into the Top 10, Lowenherz's team was having much bigger issues, with an ill-handling race car throughout the race. It wasn't that easy for the #15 team though. At the mid-way point of the race, Baranauskas would report something amiss with her car, and she would rapidly lose several positions. Fortunately for her, the problem would seem to go away, and she was able to slowly make her way back up through the field. Getting up to the Top 5 with 15 laps to go.

With about 15 laps to go green pit stops would begin, and with it one last chance for teams to get their cars right for the finish. Unfortunately for the #5 team, it would be a matter of too little too late, as despite making their car better, they were too far back to make a major run through the field. Max Anderson had dominated the latter part of the race, and would be able to hold off all challengers to take the victory at Homestead! Audra Baranauskas would come home in 2nd, and with Arthur Lowenherz finishing 14th, Baranauskas and the #15 Flying Aces Racing team would take home the Championship!

Finishing Results after Homestead:

FINAL POINT STANDINGS

Points Standings:

Team Point Standings:

ROTY Standings:

Manufacture Standings:

Wow. What a season.

Lublin: When your season falls apart after 5 races....... Welp, that's a season of tragedy.

Lucia: "Overall this year had a solid season, just had some bad luck that took us out of any shot at a title, but it was nice to get a win this year and finish top 5 in points."

Windhelm Motorworks: "Wow what a year for us, we weren't the fastest team out there, but a great job to our drivers on each winning this year once. They had some bad luck but this season gives us some great momentum into next year."

Frank Vogel: What an amazing feeling. We hit our stride this season and to come home like that is amazing.

Johannes Arndt: We played everything perfectly. The 15 car was perfect this season. Now we need to work on the 16 too.

Johann Arndt: We weren't good. The change of cars hurt us a bit. But I believe I can do better and become a contender. Happy to see my old team do so well though.

Flying Aces Racing Celebration: