Eversley wins as Wilkins fails to start

Ryan Eversley won the eighth round of the Pirelli World Challenge at Portland International Raceway despite being under pressure from Michael Lewis throughout the race. Newcomer Michael Cooper achieved his first podium by finishing third, while Race 1 winner Mark Wilkins failed to start due to a technical issue.
After Wilkins’ Hyundai i30 N stopped on the formation lap with a fuel pressure problem, Eversley took the lead at the start from Lewis and Cooper. In the early stages the trio pulled away from the rest of the field that was led by the Volkswagen Golf GTI cars of Michael Hurczyn and Nate Vincent. However, Cooper lost ground in the final part of the race, when he spun after making contact with a slower car.
During the last laps, Lewis was threatening Eversley’s lead, but the Honda driver was able to keep him at bay and won by eight tenths of a second.
The Golf cars of Hurczyn, Vincent and Mason Filippi were classified fourth, fifth and sixth ahead of Anthony Geraci’s Audi.
Eversley’s third victory in the season, joint with Wilkins withdrawal, meant that the Honda driver has stretched his leading margin in the standings to 19 points over Lewis, while Wilkins dropped to third, 30 points behind.
The next event of the Pirelli World Challenge will be at Utah Motorsport Campus on August 11/12.