TW places 10th in ISDC round two from Motegi
In the second round of the 2018 ISDC Rigshare World Series summer season, Tanner Watkins finished 10th out of 25 drivers who took the green flag for the Firestone Firehawk 300 from the Twin Ring Motegi oval.
After qualifying 6th, Watkins moved up to 3rd in the race's first ten laps and was beginning to settle in when an early caution re-stacked the field. As the race began to progress, TW struggled to keep pace with traffic and tire degredation over the course of a run.
Towards the mid-point of the event, Watkins pitted for fuel and tires only to slide through his pit box which cost multiple positions on-track.
During the final sequence of pit stops, Watkins cycled around to 8th place - his highest running position since the first third of the race - only to be overtaken in the final laps.
A fierce battle for 9th with Matthew Duggan carried through the last ten laps before Duggan eventually won the spot and TW finished 10th.
"It was a dissapointing result tonight," said the WMG driver. "We missed out on a great finish after running well all race at Homestead before fuel strategy took over. Tonight we were hoping to gain some ground back, though I knew this wasn't a track I am traditionally good at.
"I did all I could tonight but I just could not carry the momentum through turns 3 & 4 like some of these other guys did. We were fortunate to finish ahead of 15 other drivers because I don't believe I was better than them."
Despite his second top-ten finish of the season, Watkins dropped to 11th in the championship standings. He is currently 41 points back of championship leader Danny Roberts, who won the pole and the race at Motegi.
The next round of the 2018 ISDC Rigshare World Series summer championship will be held on Monday, May 7 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. The Grand Prix of Indiana will be shown live on SYM TV with the green flag falling at 9:00 PM Eastern.
The Grand Prix of Indiana kicks off the ISDC Month of May, featuring the road course race, Indianapolis 500 Qualifications on Monday, May 14 and the 6th Running of the ISDC Indianapolis 500 on Monday, May 21.
