Dachelet, Swane Split iRacing Off-Road Championship Wins at Crandon

For the second week in a row to start the 2023 iRacing Off-Road Championship Series season, it was a first-time winner and a returning title contender who split the victories from the virtual Crandon International Raceway on Wednesday night. Factory Simsport teammates Nicholas Dachelet and Keaton Swane came out on top after two 10-lap features at “The Big House,” with Swane’s second win in as many weeks enabling him to extend his championship lead in the quest for $25,000.

Both races featured the expected level of carnage that comes with 24 Pro 4 trucks barreling through Crandon’s famous Turn One, but with very different outcomes up front. Dachelet, the top point-scorer in this year’s Qualifying Series, managed to lead the first race from flag to flag, putting on most of his distance in the last few laps as defending series champion Connor Barry, 2022 race winner Jakob Rafoss, and Wild West winner Jarrett Liebert attempted to settle the rest of the podium places among themselves.

While Crandon’s 10-wide land rush starts can dull the effect of the eight-truck invert before the second feature, it was still Quentin Dall’olmo who turned an eighth place finish in the first race into an early lead in the second. But Swane wouldn’t be denied his chance to become the first repeat winner of the year, keeping pace behind Dall’olmo through the first half of the race before leading the final five laps. Former eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series driver and current NASCAR Xfinity Series full-timer Parker Retzlaff also got past Dall’olmo with three laps to go, but was unable to close the gap on Swane for a shot at the win.

iRacing Off-Road Championship Series Round 3 results at Crandon were as follows:

1. Nicholas Dachelet, 10 laps
2. Jakob Rafoss, -1.625
3. Jarrett Liebert, -1.757
4. Connor Barry, -3.135
5. Joel Blewitt, -3.492

iRacing Off-Road Championship Series Round 4 results at Crandon were as follows:

1. Keaton Swane, 10 laps
2. Parker Retzlaff, -1.425
3. Quentin Dall’olmo, -3.653
4. Nicholas Dachelet, -4.862
5. Connor Barry, -6.792

iRacing Off-Road Championship Series points through four of 16 rounds are as follows:

1. Keaton Swane, 188 (2 wins)
2. Connor Barry, 181
3. Joel Blewitt, 169
4. Jarrett Liebert, 166 (1 win)
5. Nicholas Dachelet, 153 (1 win)

Before the sim pros got going, 14 All-Stars hit the track for their own show in iRacing’s Pro 2 Lite, the truck that comes included with every iRacing subscription. Just like in the opener, Zac Drapkin led an all-Pro podium in the first race, with Luke Knupp and Blake Reynolds coming home second and third; in the second race, Williams Esports eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series driver Vicente Salas dominated ahead of Knupp and Nate Stewart, who topped the Celebrity class in both races.

iRacing Off-Road All-Star Pro points are as follows:

1. Zac Drapkin, 192 (2 wins)
2. Luke Knupp, 192
3. Blake Reynolds, 189

iRacing Off-Road All-Star Celebrity points are as follows:

1. Nate Stewart, 173
2. Mikey Lawrence, 154
3. Mia Rose, 151

The 2023 iRacing Off-Road Championship Series continues next week with a return to Bark River International Raceway. Coverage will kick off once again at 8PM ET across iRacing social media channels with the All-Star action, followed by the sim racing pros at 9PM ET.

For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

Images via Justin Melillo