SPARKS, Nev. – Ronnie Anderson dominated a star-studded field to take the win in the Pro-4 Truck portion of the Wednesday Night iRacing IROC Invitational at the virtual Wild West Motorsports Park.
Anderson, an up-and-coming off-road racer from California, led all but two laps in the 15-minute timed race to take the victory over short course off-road veteran Andrew Carlson.
A caution near the mid-point of the race set up a restart where Scott Speed was able to pass Anderson and take over the top spot, but Anderson persisted and eventually retook command with a slide job through turn four that gave him the race lead for good.
“Scott got up there after that restart and gave me a run for my money, but we were thankfully able to hang on,” Anderson said. “It’s just cool to run with some of the legends, like him and Travis Pastrana, and be able to race in a format like this. Happy to bring home the win for 4 Wheel Parts; it was just an awesome race.
“It was a good race at the end. He jumped me off the start, and I just had to stay patient because the track was getting blue-grooved up (taking rubber),” Anderson added. “We were able to stay calm and luckily, he ran a little wide and I was able to throw a slider in on him.”
Speed hung on to complete the podium ahead of action sports star Travis Pastrana and NHRA Funny Car ace Ron Capps.
Other notables in the field included two-time Supercross titlist Chad Reed, retired NASCAR star Greg Biffle, NTT IndyCar Series young gun Santino Ferrucci, Knoxville Nationals winner David Gravel and Indianapolis 500 champions Juan Pablo Montoya and Will Power.
Part of an FS1 doubleheader, the simulated off-road event was paired with a super late model event at the virtual Daytona Int’l Speedway. Speed won that half of the racing card.
The finish:
1. Ronnie Anderson, 2. Andrew Carlson, 3. Scott Speed, 4. Travis Pastrana, 5. Ron Capps, 6. Justin Lofton, 7. Christopher Polvoorde, 8. Chad Reed, 9. Greg Biffle, 10. Santino Ferrucci, 11. Kurt Busch, 12. David Gravel, 13. Juan Pablo Montoya, 14. Will Power, 15. Corry Weller, 16. Ryder Chapman, 17. Scott McLaughlin, 18. Alexander Rossi.