Harley Haber had a major boost in his hunt for the carsales ARG eSport Cup title after claiming a race win and a runner-up finish during the series’ fourth round at Monza in Italy.
Heading into the round in second place on the outright standings after previously claiming a win and second place in the previous round, Haber was again on song during the fourth round and showed his class in the virtual Formula 3 car.
In the first race, it took Haber no time to take the lead as he leapfrogged the front-row drivers and wildcard entries Luca Giacomin and Neils Langeveld, to go from third to top spot before the first turn.
From there, the Kumho V8 Touring Car racer led the 41-car field all the way to the finish line with Giacomin just behind him in second place, while John Martin secured third almost 12 seconds later. Rounding out the top five was Dylan O’Keefe and Ben McMellan.
In the second race, Haber had all the work to do, starting in 20th due to the reverse-grid, but it didn’t faze the youngster as he slowly climbed the order to third in the final stages, before pulling off the move of the night, which involved tricking Thomas Randle on the main straight.
The two podium finishes saw a thrilled Haber gather a healthy amount of points.
“This combination in the open wheelers was awesome. Really cool to step into something new and be at the top again,” Haber said post-race.
“The move on Randle was nice and funnily enough I did the same move to him in the previous round. I thought I would try it again as it was a new car and track.
Haber overtaking Randle on the inside line in the second race.
“Had to put a show on in the end. I could have conceded some points but I really wanted to go for the win. So another great result and great to get some good championship points.”
Taking out the second race ahead of Haber was Langeveld, who redeemed himself after a disappointing fall down the order in the opening race.
“It was great fun,” The Dutch driver said.
“I needed to get used to iRacing before the wildcard race last night and I trained a lot.
“I couldn’t really tell the difference between the TCR car and the Formula 3 car, but I felt better with the more racing I did.
“I started to know what I was doing and somehow, I got quicker and quicker and got the key skills on how to race. Overall it was fun experience.”
Fellow wildcard entry Giacomin also had a solid second race, climbing up from 19th to finish eighth, despite being part of the dramatic pile up in the race’s opening stages.
It was a disappointing night for series leader Ash Sutton, with the British Touring car driver unable to break into the top 10 in either race, while other title contenders O’Keefe and Nathan Herne also struggled to make a major impact – their best results being a top five finish in one race.
The carsales ARG eSport Cup title’s fifth round will take place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Thursday 30 April at 8pm AEST.