After what feels like a really long break, but actually wasn't much different to the rest of the season so far, the fourth round of the IVRA Clubsport season got the 2024 year of racing off to a hectic start today.

Once again Lochlan Bearman and Jason Dilworth teamed up in the #56 LMP3 entry that sits in 2nd in the championship at the halfway point, while the #456 was driven by the everpresent Ryan Hamilton and Chris Chadderton returning to the series for the first time in NOMAD colours.

The #56 was qualified towards the back by Jason, as seems to be the pattern so far this season, while the #456 had it's best qualifying performance of the season so far with sixth position in arguably the most competitive class.

Both cars got off to a good start, although some robust driving throughout the field within and between classes was keeping everyone on their toes. It became clear relatively early on, though, that the sorts of contacts that were happening were unlikely to cause safety cars. The runoffs here at Indianapolis Road Course are large enough to mostly allow cars to collect themselves up without needing to tow.

The downside of the lack of safety cars is that it tends to bring out the aggression across the field, and it was that aggression from all parties that brought out the first safety car – an incident that Jason in the #56 takes his part of the responsibility for, as well as the 20 second penalty.

That safety car gave a good opportunity for Lochlan to take over, and he put in a storming effort through the rest of the race to minimise the damage to the championship. That effort was very useful, recovering the car to a P6 finish after penalties are applied.

The #456 had it's own couple of issues throughout the race, which meant that their goal of a top 10 finish was just out of reach again. Both drivers had moments that involved contact, and both were minimally penalised. Taking the positives from that, we know that the car can definitely achieve it's goal by the end of the season.

In the end, round 4 is one to consign quickly to history and move onwards as a team towards the final two rounds of the championship. The next race is at Virginia International Raceway in February, and we hope you'll join us again on Twitch to view all the action as it happens.