Dylan McClements has become the youngest ever RTA Virtual Motorsport champion after sealing the Motorsport.ie LMP2 Cup in Brazil.
McClements crowned himself champion with a win and a podium in two of the three heats, and accumulated a total points haul of 548 points to beat Ronan Doherty to the title.
Qualifying in Interlagos was a straight shootout between the two championship protagonists, with Doherty taking pole position by 3 tenths of a second.
Doherty got a brilliant getaway in Heat 1 and managed to gap McClements by the opening lap. McClements was put under severe pressure from McCaughan in third. Both Robbie Callaghan and Rory O’Shea suffered spins in the first chicane. They were joined by Logan Hoey, Peter McCann and TJ Taaffe, who all spun through turn 4 in freakish nature. All three spun in the very same corner, on the very same lap, in almost the exact same fashion. McCann did impressively recover to seventh across the next ten minutes.
Doherty led his rival McClements across the line with McCaughan in third, making an all Antrim podium. Jamal Ghandour gained 11 positions to finish in 5th.
Heat 2 once again saw Doherty bolt through the banked final corner and he led comfortably to the apex of Turn 1. This however, was short lived, as Doherty made a totally unprovoked error through the ‘Ferradura’ corner, running wide and falling to tenth. Sean McClements helped his brother Dylan defend from McCaughan, who spun just seconds later. The champion elect galloped into the lead.
Peter McCann and Rory O’Shea had a turn of events from Heat 1 and both gained positions on the race start. O’Shea got ahead of McCann, and held a comfortable second place. McCann now had a fired up Doherty behind him, but he continued on showing the front runners that passing him was never easy. McCann held on to third and scored a podium in the season finale for a fourth consecutive season.
The attention turned to the front however, as Dylan McClements, at just 14 years, 9 months and 5 days, crowned himself champion with a race win. He however, couldn’t really celebrate just yet, as he had the reverse grid Heat 3 to participate in. He is a true competitor, and would never turn down the opportunity to try and win more.
As history was made, eyes swiftly turned to Heat 3, where Logan Hoey lined up alongside TJ Taaffe on the front row. Hoey tried to get the early launch but had to brake as the safety car was not into the pitlane yet. A very similar mistake to what Jason Smyth did in Atlanta. This time the consequences were much greater. With all the drivers suddenly slowing, Ghandour spun round, and that was just the beginning.
Pandemonium ensued. Doherty hit McCaughan, Joyce and O’Shea spun round, McCann hit the wall, Dylan McClements as well. A cloud of smoke, from drivers trying to avoid the spinning cars, filled the Brazilian air. It was the first time that many long-time motorsport viewers saw three cars facing the final corner instead of the first while crossing the start line.
The driver that took advantage from all of this was Logan Hoey. He held his lead and pulled away from the pack, comfortably driving home to win. Whatever you have to say about the race start, you certainly couldn’t discredit the 19 minutes and 30 seconds that followed it.
Robbie Callaghan and Sean McClements finished in second and third to mark the ending of another RTA season. Third time was in fact the charm for Dylan McClements, who succeeded on his third valiant attempt at winning the championship. It is mutually agreed across the paddock that what he is able to do with a race car at such a young age is simply absurd. He is the definition of composure, and not once strayed away from his goal of the championship when moments of challenge arrived. To put into context, the Apple iPad is older than Dylan McClements, and he has now beaten some of Ireland’s best sim racers across the course of a season.
Is this the beginning of a new era? There is not long to wait to find out. RTA Virtual Motorsport returns for the F4 Championship on February 4th at 9pm GMT on Gantry TV.
By Evan Dalton
Photos Sean McClements
