The second round of the ARC’s digital DiRT Rally 2.0 club ‘MotorsportARC’ has been completed, with the season opener’s runner-up Luca Giacomin (ERT_LUCA GIACOMIN) taking out the Hawkes Bay based rally event.
For the second consecutive round, it was Giacomin against his Evolution Racing Team teammate and round one winner Jarod Pesch (ERT_JAROD) in the battle for outright victory, with Giacomin coming out on top by one minute 20 seconds.
Unlike the first round, Giacomin was in complete control of the event, claiming all but one win out of the 12 available stages, including the first eight stage wins of the event.
Using the experience from his time in the Motorsport Australia Till Hino Victorian Rally Championship alongside Brett Williams between 2016-2018, Giacomin was proud of his performance on the simulator after coming close in the opening round.
“I am really happy with the result. I put a bit of preparation into this round.I gave it a crack in the first event and saw that Jarod and I were quite close with a nice battle,” Giacomin said.
“I put in some more effort into this one in response to his victory last week. He lost a bit of time of this event which opened up the door for me.
“Because it’s a simulated race, we pretty much have unlimited runs at preparation so it’s a great way to do a recce. Through my time in rally, I know how important it is to prepare, which is what I did for each stage. Knowing where the key points were makes the event much easier.
“It will be the same structure for the next round in Finland. I will do some recce, I will do some stages to prepare. I feel like some of the competitors are taking it more seriously now so there will be good competition.
“It’s also great to see a number of inexperienced sim racers like Troy Dowel do quite well as the game takes a few hours to master just like any other sport.”
After a disappointing series opener, CRIMPYGUN bounced back in style with a well-deserved third place, after finishing less than two minutes slower than Giacomin, while around than one minute and 25 seconds separated he and the fourth placed Scott Fletcher (SCOTTYF90).
Rounding out the top five in the New Zealand rally and just four seconds behind Fletcher was David Opie (OPES89).
Other notable results saw FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship driver Mike Young (YOUNGYMIKEZ) claim eighth and New South Wales youngster Taylor Gill (DGMSPORT), ARC photographer Jack Martin (MARTYJACK97) and Victorian ARC competitor Troy Dowel (TOASTED) take up positions 12th-14th respectively.
Giacomin’s victory sees him replace Pesch at the summit of the Hoosier Tire Standings after two rounds, with Fletcher a fair way below in third.
In the ARC2 competition, only open to those with only a gamepad or keyboard, just three seconds separated eventual winner Aidan Peterson (AIDANPETERSON) with runner-up Scott Welds (SCOTTWELDS) after nine stages in the second round in New England.
The series’ third main event at Jämsä in Finland and the ARC2 competition’s second round in New England are both now underway with competitors having until 4:15pm on Thursday, 9 April AEST to post their run.
