A dominant Harley Haber dominated the fourth round of the ARG eSport Cup at Monza, collecting a win in race one while driving from 20th to second in race two.
Track Tec Racing’s Niels Langeveld led every lap of the night’s second race, finishing three-seconds clear of Thomas Randle in an unrivalled victory.
The series switched to the Formula 3 car for the two races after using the Audi TCR for the previous three rounds.
From pole position, it was Haber who lead every lap of the 20-minute feature race, fending off a resilient Luca Giacomin for the majority of the affair. The duo separated by a mere 0.5s at the line.
John Martin rounded off the podium 13s behind the race leader while title-protagonist Dylan O’Keeffe followed the ex-A1GP driver in fourth.
Having qualified on the second row, Jaden Ransley was in the prime opportunity to claim a maiden victory. But a consequent spin after taking too much kerb at turn two meant most of the challenging pack were forced to take evasive action.
Unfortunately for many, however, that involved colliding into one another, wounding their car and ruining their chances of a decent race.
Tom Alexander was the first kiwi across the line in a respectable 11th position.
The reverse-top 20 race saw a dominant performance from Track Tec Racing’s Niels Langeveld.
The opening-lap melee, coupled by Monza’s incredibly tight first chicane, saw several drivers punted off the road. The biggest loser from the incident being O’Keeffe who dropped all the way to last after being tagged and sent into a pirouette across the sand trap.
Withstanding the early race pressure, Langeveld crucially managed to build a comfortable margin behind, breaking the all-important tow.
A slipstream-feast ensued for the second spot on the podium between Randle, Herne and a hard-charging Haber.
An opportunistic lunge into turn one with a handful of minutes on the clock saw Haber steal second away from both Randle and Herne.
Randle looked to fight back at the Ascari chicane but spun in his attempt of doing so.
Langeveld would finish 3.4s clear of Haber while Herne held on to third.
Ransley made it two Track Tec Racing machines in the top four as the Toyota 86 regular took full advantage of Randle’s spin to finish just off the podium.
“I don’t know what the difference is compared to the TCR car, but [the F3 car] feels good,” said Langeveld after his race two triumph.
“I knew what I was doing and somehow I got quicker and quicker. I can’t say how happy I am, it’s like a real race.”