OBRL CUP SERIES S8 R3 Recap

02 March 2025
OBRL Presented by VCTRYLNSPRTS | Season 8 | Round 3
YesterYear Cup Series | Circuit of the Americas

On Sunday, March 2nd, the OBRL YesterYear Racing Cup Series, presented by VCTRYLNSPRTS, took on the technical challenges of Circuit of the Americas for Round 3 of Season 8. Entering the night, Team Miata’s Josh Robinson held a slim four-point lead over Thomas Ogle, with a deep field of contenders looking to shake up the standings.

Cortney Nelson of Nelson-Hislop Racing wasted no time asserting his dominance, securing the pole with a blistering 1:37.378 lap time, joined by Daniel Hill on the front row. As the green flag waved, Nelson immediately launched into the lead, setting an unforgiving pace that left the rest of the field scrambling to keep up.

One of the biggest storylines of the night was series rookie Andrew Kotska, who started way back in 19th but quickly carved through the field, running some of the fastest laps of the race. After charging all the way up to third, Kotska made an aggressive early pit stop for fuel, looking to gain track position through strategy. He rejoined in seventh but crucially had enough fuel to make it to the end, banking on the long-run payoff.

Meanwhile, Nelson was locked into a different strategy—pushing hard and stretching his fuel as long as possible. Lap after lap, he continued to build a monstrous gap over Hill, extending his lead beyond 40 seconds before finally diving to pit road on lap 34. His near-perfect execution paid off, as he reentered the track still in the lead with a comfortable 13-second cushion over Hill.

As the race entered its closing stages, Kotska had climbed back into third and was rapidly reeling in Hill. But with Nelson still increasing his lead up front, the battle for second became the focal point. Hill defended aggressively, forcing Kotska to search for a way around, setting up a dramatic final lap.

As Nelson took the white flag well out of reach, Hill and Kotska approached lap traffic in the final corners. Contact nearly derailed both of their races, but they managed to recover, crossing the line in second and third, respectively, while Nelson sealed his dominant victory.

Robinson finished a solid fifth, maintaining his points lead but now with Jerry Isaacs just nine points behind as the series heads to Phoenix Raceway for Round 4. Catch all the action live next Sunday, March 9th, at 8:00 PM ET, exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!