The third Tournament of the 2026-27 season for the eNASCAR College iRacing Series presented by Logitech G concludes on Wednesday night right in the heart of Upstate New York over at Watkins Glen International. Titled the Big Apple Battle, and in conjunction with IMSA for the first of two road-based Tournaments this season, 100 collegiate competitors ran the gauntlet last week, with the Quarterfinal and Semifinal rounds of the Tournament showcasing all 100 qualified students and their schools. Only 40 have advanced on to Week 2 and the Final round.
These remaining 40 students will take on Watkins Glen in one Final round race, a 70-minute timed race around the booted version of the venue. The hero of the timed event by the end of the night will collect $3,000 and a good chunk of points towards the overall Student Championship. The School Championship will also be on display on Wednesday night with 12 eligible schools and their students partaking.
Coverage starts on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. ET at eNASCAR.com/live and across all of iRacing’s social media channels.
BIG APPLE BATTLE – WEEK 1
In the opening week of the Tournament, two groups ran the Quarterfinal round, the Quarterfinal LCQ, and the Semifinal round. Group 1 had the No. 1 seed park it in victory lane for the first time this year, that being Sacramento State’s Dylan Ault. In the second group, last Tournament’s overall winner—Horry-Georgetown’s Timothy Holmes—managed to outlast the rest to score another win. Points were awarded to the top-10 finishers.
Connor Yeroschak from the University of Calgary, the defending series champion, and Jacob Wilkerson from Tarrant County College District, the points leader before Week 1 of the Big Apple Battle, will both be in the field as well. 30 schools are represented among the 40 drivers, with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte once again sending a horde of drivers, that alliance of seven students led by John Babineau, their top finisher from the war that was Week 1.
Ball State and Purdue in Indy will also have a three-piece representing in the Final Round. A quartet of Floridian schools—Daytona State, Florida International, Central Florida and South Florida—will make their grand debut for the season as well, the last possible spot going dramatically to Mauro Santamaria from South Florida in a true rockstar performance.
2026-27 eNASCAR College iRacing Series | Big Apple Battle at Watkins Glen | Week 1 Recap
DRIVERS, SCHOOLS ADVANCED TO FINAL ROUND
| STUDENT | SCHOOL | TA SEED | GROUP # | SEMIS FIN. | PTS. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bradley Erickson | Arizona State University | 27 | 1 | 13 | 0 |
| Van Drugmand | Austin Peay State University | 21 | 1 | 8 | 3 |
| Daniel Nanney | Ball State University | 18 | 2 | 5 | 6 |
| Kelton Quick | Ball State University | 32 | 2 | 13 | 0 |
| Nathaniel Fryman | Ball State University | 72 | 1 | 17 | 0 |
| Jake Innes | Belmont Abbey College | 30 | 2 | 12 | 0 |
| Dylan Bahm | Bismarck State College | 33 | 1 | 10 | 1 |
| Dylan Ault | California State University, Sacramento | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| Dylan Tripoli | Florida International University | 87 | 1 | 20 | 0 |
| Hector Collazo | Daytona State College | 5 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| Connor Burns | East Tennessee State University | 4 | 2 | 6 | 5 |
| Arron Brown | Eastern Shore Community College | 35 | 1 | 11 | 0 |
| Zach Sprouse | George Mason University | 37 | 1 | 14 | 0 |
| Timothy Holmes | Horry-Georgetown Technical College | 22 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| Matthew Blaine | Kent State University | 26 | 2 | 18 | 0 |
| Maverick Davis | Kettering University | 51 | 1 | 12 | 0 |
| Tucker Salyer | Kilgore College | 25 | 1 | 19 | 0 |
| Liam Loisel | Ontario Tech University | 9 | 1 | 15 | 0 |
| Dominic Sileo | Purdue University in Indianapolis | 23 | 1 | 16 | 0 |
| Hudson Willingham | Purdue University in Indianapolis | 94 | 2 | 19 | 0 |
| Nick Luetje | Purdue University in Indianapolis | 19 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| Davian Tobin | Richard Bland College | 65 | 2 | 17 | 0 |
| Jacob Wilkerson | Tarrant County College District | 24 | 2 | 14 | 0 |
| Nick Rowe | The University of Maine | 53 | 1 | 18 | 0 |
| Adam Garza | Triton College | 14 | 2 | 8 | 3 |
| Connor Yeroschak | University of Calgary | 7 | 1 | 7 | 4 |
| Faraz Khan | University of California, Santa Cruz | 8 | 2 | 9 | 2 |
| Tanner Ledford | University of Central Florida | 92 | 2 | 15 | 0 |
| Avery Mendoza | University of Georgia | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| Joonsuh Lim | University of Michigan | 11 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Aidan McFarland | University of North Carolina at Charlotte | 15 | 1 | 6 | 5 |
| Alexander Papadimitriou | University of North Carolina at Charlotte | 6 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| Bryan Holland | University of North Carolina at Charlotte | 63 | 2 | 10 | 1 |
| Caleb Johnson | University of North Carolina at Charlotte | 20 | 2 | 7 | 4 |
| Connor Trifari | University of North Carolina at Charlotte | 29 | 1 | 9 | 2 |
| Cristian Zarate | University of North Carolina at Charlotte | 42 | 2 | 16 | 0 |
| John Babineau | University of North Carolina at Charlotte | 12 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| Mauro Santamaria | University of South Florida | 16 | 2 | 20 | 0 |
| Adrian Puebla | University of Texas at Arlington | 28 | 2 | 11 | 0 |
| Thomas Bellemin | Virginia Tech | 62 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
TRACK INFO – WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL
Just south of Seneca Lake, amidst the rolling vineyards and woodlands in Upstate New York’s Finger Lakes region, sits a shrine of American motorsport. Watkins Glen International is more than just a racetrack. It is the birthplace of post-war road racing in North America, a worthy test of some of the best drivers to ever sit in a racecar.
Today, The Glen hosts the NASCAR Cup and O’Reilly Auto Part Series, as well as a six-hour crown jewel of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Sports Car Club of America professional and amateur racing, ARCA Menards Series, and a major vintage race meet. It has also been home to major concerts and other festivals.
Over the years The Glen has been lengthened once and continually upgraded. Four different configurations of the track are available to iRacing members, and a lap around today’s Grand Prix circuit still incorporates much of the original layout. The first turn is known as “The 90,” a right-hander and a good place to pass. Then it’s up toward “The Esses,” a series of three fast, sweeping apexes leading onto the back straight. The cars reach their top speed here, before hard braking for the bus stop at the end of the straight. Here, the track deviates from its original circuit for “The Boot,” a hammerhead-shaped up-and-downhill section of track added in 1971. Turn 9, where The Boot rejoins the original circuit, is another fairly quick lefthander, tricky because it’s off camber, followed by the even quicker Turn 10, an almost flat-out left-hander. The last corner (Turn 11) is another fast right-hander that leads out onto the front straight.
Racing first came to The Glen in 1948 in the form of the Watkins Glen Grand Prix, an SCCA-sanctioned event that ran on a more than six mile course over the back roads of the town. The success of that event eventually led to the construction of a permanent track, the resulting product a little more than a third in length of the original street course. In 1957, the track hosted its first race, a NASCAR Grand National Series event won by Buck Baker over Fireball Roberts. The following year, Formula Libre showed up, and, not long after that, Watkins Glen hit the big time.
In 1961, Formula 1 came to the little town by the lake, bringing with it some of the most legendary names in motor sports. For the next two decades, the home of the United States Grand Prix was Watkins Glen. The early eighties saw some tough times for The Glen: F1 held its last race there in 1980, and it was closed to all but spectator-free SCCA meets for two years, but the track would recover soon enough under new ownership. In 1986, NASCAR’s top series returned to The Glen, and with it, a whole new renaissance for the track began.
ABOUT THE SERIES
The eNASCAR College iRacing Series presented by Logitech G gives college students from the United States and Canada the opportunity to compete for their share of $60,000 in scholarships. Using the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series vehicles, 100 drivers qualify for each Tournament by registering and posting their fastest lap times in the Time Attack through the iRacing UI. With hundreds of colleges and universities represented in each Time Attack, drivers are competing not only against the greater iRacing community, but also their own classmates, for a spot on the newly-minted bracket.
Week 2 of the Big Apple Battle concludes on Wednesday, November 4th, at 7:00 p.m. ET. The next Tournament is the Great Lakes Gauntlet at Michigan International Speedway, the final Tournament of the Fall Semester. Time Attacks opened on November 3rd and run until November 8th.
For more information on the eNASCAR College iRacing Series, visit pcl.gg/pages/enascar.
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