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Brit star and Bathurst champ claim wins at Zolder
British Touring Car star Ash Sutton and Bathurst 1000 champion Garth Tander have shared the victories in two thrilling races in the second round of the carsales ARG eSport Cup at Circuit Zolder, Belgium, this evening.
Sutton followed up his Round 1 speed at Mount Panorama with pole position for Race 1 and took a dominant lights to flag win by over 20 seconds ahead of TCR Australia racer Dylan O’Keeffe and 17-year-old Trans Am young gun Nathan Herne.
Tander was never headed in the reverse top 20 second race, taking a 4.7 second win and his first win in the eSport Cup.
O’Keefe was the top performer across the two races with a second and a third to take the points lead in the eSport Cup after two rounds.
Carnage ensued on the first lap of the first 30-minute encounter, with Declan Fraser taken out on the pit straight approaching Turn 1 before a melee into Turn 5 saw reigning TCR Australia champion Will Brown spin.
Honda TCR racer John Martin was later thrown into the fence on the back straight approaching Turn 5 and bounced back on the track only to be collected by Nathan Morcom.
Herne made his way to second past O’Keeffe and Valvoline Team GRM S5000 racer James Golding in a battle which unravelled when the trio pushed and shoved each other into Turn 8. Herne ran into the gravel trap, Golding was collected by fifth-placed Jay Hanson while O’Keefe continued only one position down.
While Tander checked out in Race 2, Race 1 winner Sutton’s race unravelled before the first corner when he was sent into the fence before Turn 1. He recovered to 13th.
The battle of the night saw Nic Carroll catch up to the scrapping GRM drivers of Cameron and Jordan Cox and passed them both for second with three laps remaining. On the final lap, Cox ran wide exiting the final chicane and fell back to sixth as O’Keeffe came through from fourth to take the final podium spot from Cameron and Ben McMellan.
Cameron was later demoted to 17th after a penalty applied for cutting through the final chicane during the push-and-shove approaching the chequered flag.
O’Keeffe now leads the ARG eSport Cup on 129 points ahead of Sutton, Herne, Carrol and New Zealander Jayden Ransley.
Round 3 of the ARG eSport Cup heads to the famous American road course of Watkins Glen next Thursday, April 16 from 8pm AEST, live on the TCR Australia Facebook page and YouTube channel.
Results: ARG eSport Cup, Race 1
| Pos | Driver | Interval |
| 1 | Ashley Sutton | 20 Laps |
| 2 | Dylan O’Keeffe | +20.235 |
| 3 | Nathan Herne | +21.417 |
| 4 | Jaden M Ransley | +27.769 |
| 5 | Nic Carroll | +31.991 |
| 6 | Harley Haber | +38.322 |
| 7 | Jonathan Beikoff | +39.374 |
| 8 | George Miedecke | +40.23 |
| 9 | Jordan Cox | +48.231 |
| 10 | Jason Bargwanna | +53.023 |
| 11 | Trent Harrison | +54.859 |
| 12 | Mike Clemente | +57.945 |
| 13 | Garth Tander | +1:07.695 |
| 14 | Jack Milligan | +1:21.048 |
| 15 | Braydan Willmington | +1:22.547 |
| 16 | Timothy McReynolds | +1:23.036 |
| 17 | Aaron Seton | +1:28.039 |
| 18 | Timothy Macrow | +1:39.645 |
| 19 | Cameron Mason | +1:40.444 |
| 20 | Aaron Cameron | +1:42.209 |
| 21 | Ricky Capo | +1 Lap |
| 22 | Ben McMellan | +1 Lap |
| 23 | Nathan Morcom | +1 Lap |
| 24 | Timothy Brook | +1 Lap |
| 25 | Brett Holdsworth | +1 Lap |
| 26 | John Martin | +1 Lap |
| 27 | James Golding | +1 Lap |
| 28 | Barton Mawer | +2 Laps |
| 29 | Jett Johnson | +2 Laps |
| 30 | Peter Herd | +2 Laps |
| 31 | Thomas Randle | +3 Laps |
| 32 | Michael Sinclair | +6 Laps |
| 33 | Jay Hanson | +6 Laps |
| 34 | Jason Gomersall | +8 Laps |
| 35 | Chelsea Angelo | +11 Laps |
| 36 | Stan van Oord | +12 Laps |
| 37 | Will Brown | +12 Laps |
| 38 | Declan Fraser | +15 Laps |
| 39 | Jeremy Gray | +18 Laps |
| 40 | Niels Langeveld | +20 Laps |
| 41 | Rhys Gould | +20 Laps |
Results: ARG eSport Cup, Race 2
| Pos | Driver | Interval |
| 1 | Garth Tander | 10 Laps |
| 2 | Nic Carroll | +4.674 |
| 3 | Dylan O’Keeffe | +6.455 |
| 4 | Ben McMellan | +7.042 |
| 5 | Jordan Cox | +7.513 |
| 6 | Timothy Brook | +11.285 |
| 7 | Chelsea Angelo | +15.662 |
| 8 | Stan van Oord | +18.284 |
| 9 | Jason Gomersall | +22.971 |
| 10 | Jason Bargwanna | +24.98 |
| 11 | Jonathan Beikoff | +26.316 |
| 12 | Nathan Morcom | +29.812 |
| 13 | Ashley Sutton | +42.513 |
| 14 | Timothy McReynolds | +43.6 |
| 15 | Michael Sinclair | +50.565 |
| 16 | Ricky Capo | +51.993 |
| 17 | Aaron Cameron | +53.439 |
| 18 | Barton Mawer | +1:06.009 |
| 19 | Jay Hanson | +1:06.979 |
| 20 | Harley Haber | +1:16.653 |
| 21 | Peter Herd | +1:19.772 |
| 22 | George Miedecke | +1:21.238 |
| 23 | Nathan Herne | +1:21.374 |
| 24 | Jaden M Ransley | +1 Lap |
| 25 | Mike Clemente | +1 Lap |
| 26 | John Martin | +1 Lap |
| 27 | Thomas Randle | +1 Lap |
| 28 | Will Brown | +1 Lap |
| 29 | Cameron Mason | +1 Lap |
| 30 | Brett Holdsworth | +1 Lap |
| 31 | Aaron Seton | +2 Laps |
| 32 | Steve R Johnson | +2 Laps |
| 33 | James Golding | +5 Laps |
| 34 | Jack Milligan | +5 Laps |
| 35 | Timothy Macrow | +5 Laps |
| 36 | Braydan Willmington | +6 Laps |
| 37 | Jeremy Gray | +8 Laps |
| 38 | Trent Harrison | +8 Laps |
| 39 | Niels Langeveld | +10 Laps |
| 40 | Rhys Gould | +10 Laps |
Provisional points after Round 2
1. Dylan O’Keeffe 129
2. Ash Sutton 120
3. Nathan Herne 115
4. Nic Carroll 106
5. Jaden Ransley 100
6. Harley Haber 93
7. Tim Mcreynolds 84
8. Garth Tander 81
9. Jonathan Beikoff 81
10. James Golding 68
11. Aaron Cameron 65
12. Ben McMellan 64
13. Aaron Seton 63
14. Jordan Cox 62
15. Brett Holdsworth 59
16. Michael Clemente 58
17. Chelsea Angelo 55
18. Trent Harrison 54
19. Luca Giacomin 53
20. Braydan Willmington 48
21. Tim Brook 46
22. Ben Bargwanna 45
23. George Miedecke 45
24. Jay Hanson 43
25. Barton Mawer 41
26. Niels Langeveld 40
27. Jack Milligan 39
28. Ricky Capo 38
29. Nathan Morcom 37
30. Rowan Shepherd 37
31. Jaxon Evans 37
32. Cameron Mason 33
33. Tom Alexander 33
34. Tim Macrow 31
35. Steve Johnson 24
36. John Martin 23
37. Declan Fraser 22
38. Jason Gomersall 20
39. Mike Sinclair 20
40. Stan Van Oord 19
41. Peter Herd 18
42. Lee Partridge 16
43. Thomas Randle 14
44. Jett Johnson 12
45. Sam Stratten 10
46. Will Brown 9
47. Matt Simmons 6
48. Luke King 6
49. Blake ‘Bilko’ Williams 4
50. Jeremy Gray 3
51. Tim Dossett 3
52. Adam Garwood 2
53. Jason Bargwanna 1
54. Rhys Gould 0