The eNASCAR College iRacing Series presented by Logitech G had its own taste of Road Ringing these last two weeks in the Big Apple Battle, the third Tournament of the 2026-27 season, in conjunction with IMSA at Watkins Glen. While two of the mainstays were victorious in the Semifinal battles, it was Daytona State College’s Hector Collazo who flipped the script and scored a dominant win on Wednesday night.
Just finishing second a week ago to Sacramento State’s Dylan Ault, this week, Collazo took the pole and led all 36 laps in the 70-minute timed event, holding off a late charge by Ault to score the win. The University of Georgia’s Avery Mendoza, who has competed in many previous oval Tournaments, shined bright on the road, scoring a third place effort.
“I’m so blessed to have this opportunity to run in this prestigious type of event,” Collazo said post-race. “I’m lost for words. I’m just so grateful to be able to have an opportunity to come out here and race, and obviously, my first time, to come and win against Dylan Ault, I don’t know how the hell I did it, but Dylan… man, that guy is fast. I was just trying to manage all the pressure. My legs started shaking with five minutes to go. I started getting really nervous coming to the end, but we were able to make it work. Honestly, I’m super, super thankful and really blessed to have an opportunity here.”
While this was just his first start, Collazo jumps up to 13th in the Student Standings, ahead of many drivers who have competed in all three Final Rounds, including the defending series champion, the University of Calgary’s Connor Yeroschak, who finally got to finish one of these Final Rounds on Wednesday, scoring a seventh. Horry-Georgetown’s Timothy Holmes took control of the Student Championship last week by winning Group 2’s Semifinal Round, and extends his lead to 18 points over Tarrant County’s Jacob Wilkerson, who finished 18th.
SURVIVAL AN EARLY TARGET FOR MANY
With 39 Ford Mustang GT4s on track, the early laps of the Big Apple Battle Final Round were about making it through the smoke and carnage. By the end of the night, a third of the field wound up wiped out of contention, and a good chunk were dismissed early in the opening laps.
Collazo led the field down the hill to start the race, with Ault moving by Ball State’s Daniel Nanney for second early on. The pair of Collazo and Ault managed to gap the field from there and set out on their own adventure. The mid-pack was still trying to get their bearings straight.
Triton’s Adam Garza nearly found trouble early, but was able to save it while the others behind all collected into a wad. By the end of the first lap, six students had packed their bags and left the classroom, including Nanney’s two Ball State teammates, Kelton Quick and Nathaniel Fryman.
UC Santa Cruz’s Faraz Khan and Austin Peay State’s Van Drugmand were involved in a crash together in the inner loop. Belmont Abbey’s Jake Innes and Central Florida’s Tanner Ledford also wrecked in the bus stop, but the next time around.
The Peachtree Pursuit Tournament winner, Wilkerson, wasn’t wrecked out, but he did sustain some heavy nose damages that hindered performance throughout the day. Wilkerson was one of the first to pit, despite not taking the time to fix the nose on his Mustang. From there, the strategies began to appear all over the map, unclear of which would ultimately prevail.
STRATEGY PLAYS INTO COLLAZO’S FAVOR OVER AULT
Avery Mendoza was one of the first potential winners to pit. After starting in ninth, Mendoza worked his way up to seventh before pitting right around halfway. The undercut would give him clear track and some laps over his competition to get heat back in the tires he changed. Some drivers were opting to just change two tires on the car, and depending on which ones and how many would affect the length of the stop on pit road. All drivers needed fuel as well, which is where we return to the two leaders.
Collazo was leading and Ault was pressuring, but was Ault also saving? Could Ault be looking to undercut by taking less fuel on the final stop as compared to Collazo? We wouldn’t find out until late in the going, not until the final quarter of the race.
In the meanwhile, the rest of the field all took their medicine, and some opted for longer stops in hopes that more fresh tires equaled faster lap times. This wound up biting Nanney, who dropped from third to ultimately finish 10th. It helped the points leader, Holmes, who shot up from what was looking like a seventh place day to being in fourth.
Finally, on Lap 30, the two leaders came down pit road. Ault was right on Collazo’s rear wing, and the two entered their stalls simultaneously. Ault looked to have the jump out of the box, but the two were side-by-side, and perhaps a slight miscalculation on the pit exit line by Ault gave Collazo back the lead before the end of pit exit.
Time was winding down, and Ault wasn’t done with it yet. A few lunges here and there, but to no avail. Eventually, Collazo managed to escape Ault’s fury and pulled away to win his first Tournament by nearly one-and-a-half seconds over Ault.
TOURNAMENT 3 | BIG APPLE BATTLE AT WATKINS GLEN | RESULTS
| POS. | ST. | STUDENT | SCHOOL | LAPS | INTERVAL | LED | BEST | POINTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Hector Collazo | Daytona State | 36 | 0.000 | 36 | 1:55.150 | 64 |
| 2 | 3 | Dylan Ault | Sacramento State | 36 | -1.400 | 0 | 1:55.132 | 45 |
| 3 | 13 | Avery Mendoza | Georgia | 36 | -2.612 | 0 | 1:55.437 | 42 |
| 4 | 7 | Timothy Holmes | Horry-Georgetown | 36 | -4.589 | 0 | 1:55.522 | 43 |
| 5 | 8 | Nick Luetje | Purdue Indianapolis | 36 | -10.922 | 0 | 1:55.526 | 39 |
| 6 | 14 | Alexander Papadimitriou | UNC Charlotte | 36 | -11.469 | 0 | 1:55.391 | 38 |
| 7 | 6 | Connor Yeroschak | Calgary | 36 | -14.641 | 0 | 1:55.342 | 34 |
| 8 | 12 | John Babineau | UNC Charlotte | 36 | -15.216 | 0 | 1:55.048 | 38 |
| 9 | 5 | Bradley Erickson | Arizona State | 36 | -15.537 | 0 | 1:55.688 | 28 |
| 10 | 2 | Daniel Nanney | Ball State | 36 | -19.535 | 0 | 1:55.104 | 33 |
| 11 | 18 | Connor Trifari | UNC Charlotte | 36 | -23.541 | 0 | 1:55.480 | 28 |
| 12 | 35 | Joonsuh Lim | Michigan | 36 | -26.655 | 0 | 1:55.792 | 31 |
| 13 | 19 | Adam Garza | Triton | 36 | -27.610 | 0 | 1:55.518 | 27 |
| 14 | 37 | Aidan McFarland | UNC Charlotte | 36 | -28.738 | 0 | 1:55.519 | 28 |
| 15 | 4 | Liam Loisel | Ontario Tech | 36 | -29.750 | 0 | 1:55.555 | 22 |
| 16 | 17 | Maverick Davis | Kettering | 36 | -41.554 | 0 | 1:55.570 | 21 |
| 17 | 15 | Matthew Blaine | Kent State | 36 | -43.075 | 0 | 1:55.385 | 20 |
| 18 | 22 | Jacob Wilkerson | Tarrant County | 36 | -43.453 | 0 | 1:55.832 | 19 |
| 19 | 30 | Bryan Holland | UNC Charlotte | 36 | -43.775 | 0 | 1:56.154 | 19 |
| 20 | 24 | Dylan Bahm | Bismarck State | 36 | -45.096 | 0 | 1:55.743 | 18 |
| 21 | 21 | Caleb Johnson | UNC Charlotte | 36 | -46.920 | 0 | 1:55.192 | 20 |
| 22 | 28 | Davian Tobin | Richard Bland | 36 | -57.740 | 0 | 1:55.838 | 15 |
| 23 | 36 | Dominic Sileo | Purdue Indianapolis | 36 | -1:02.378 | 0 | 1:55.868 | 14 |
| 24 | 39 | Cristian Zarate | UNC Charlotte | 36 | -1:06.084 | 0 | 1:55.902 | 13 |
| 25 | 32 | Arron Brown | Eastern Shore | 36 | -1:08.295 | 0 | 1:56.047 | 12 |
| 26 | 34 | Tucker Salyer | Kilgore | 36 | -1:24.357 | 0 | 1:55.937 | 11 |
| 27 | 38 | Zach Sprouse | George Mason | 33 | -3 L | 0 | 1:55.715 | 10 |
| 28 | 31 | Dylan Tripoli | Florida International | 32 | -4 L | 0 | 1:56.443 | 9 |
| 29 | 10 | Connor Burns | East Tennessee State | 24 | DNF | 0 | 1:55.347 | 13 |
| 30 | 27 | Jake Innes | Belmont Abbey | 17 | DNF | 0 | 1:57.298 | 7 |
| 31 | 25 | Mauro Santamaria | South Florida | 14 | DNF | 0 | 1:55.892 | 6 |
| 32 | 16 | Nick Rowe | Maine | 11 | DNF | 0 | 1:55.911 | 5 |
| 33 | 29 | Adrian Puebla | Texas at Arlington | 10 | DNF | 0 | 1:55.619 | 4 |
| 34 | 33 | Tanner Ledford | Central Florida | 1 | DNF | 0 | ——– | 3 |
| 35 | 20 | Nathaniel Fryman | Ball State | 1 | DNF | 0 | ——– | 2 |
| 36 | 9 | Faraz Khan | UC Santa Cruz | 1 | DNF | 0 | ——– | 3 |
| 37 | 11 | Van Drugmand | Austin Peay State | 1 | DNF | 0 | ——– | 4 |
| 38 | 23 | Kelton Quick | Ball State | 1 | DNF | 0 | ——– | 1 |
| 39 | 26 | Hudson Willingham | Purdue Indianapolis | 1 | DNF | 0 | ——– | 1 |
| DNS | DNQ | Thomas Bellemin | Virginia Tech | 0 | DNR | 0 | ——– | 0 |
STUDENT STANDINGS FOLLOWING TOURNAMENT 3 | BIG APPLE BATTLE
| POS. | STUDENT | SCHOOL | POINTS | + / – | WINS | POLES | TOP 5’S | TOP 10’S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Timothy Holmes | Horry-Georgetown | 135 | Ldr. | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 2 | Jacob Wilkerson | Tarrant County | 117 | -18 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | Dylan Ault | Sacramento State | 113 | -22 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 4 | Adam Garza | Triton | 110 | -25 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 5 | Bradley Erickson | Arizona State | 99 | -36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | Connor Trifari | UNC Charlotte | 94 | -41 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | John Babineau | UNC Charlotte | 93 | -42 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | Joonsuh Lim | Michigan | 86 | -49 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Brian Mercurio | DeSales | 79 | -56 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 | Daniel Nanney | Ball State | 76 | -59 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
SCHOOL PLACEMENTS IN TOURNAMENT 3 | BIG APPLE BATTLE
| POS. | SCHOOL | POINTS | ELIGIBLE STUDENT | FINISH |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California State University, Sacramento | 40 | Dylan Ault | 2nd |
| 2 | University of Georgia | 39 | Avery Mendoza | 3rd |
| 3 | Purdue University in Indianapolis | 38 | Nick Luetje | 5th |
| 4 | University of North Carolina at Charlotte | 37 | Alexander Papadimitriou | 6th |
| 5 | Ball State University | 36 | Daniel Nanney | 10th |
| 6 | Eastern Shore Community College | 35 | Arron Brown | 25th |
| 7 | Florida International University | 34 | Dylan Tripoli | 28th |
| 8 | East Tennessee State University | 33 | Connor Burns | 29th |
| 9 | Belmont Abbey College | 32 | Jake Innes | 30th |
| 10 | University of South Florida | 31 | Mauro Santamaria | 31st |
| 11 | University of Central Florida | 30 | Tanner Ledford | 34th |
SCHOOL STANDINGS FOLLOWING TOURNAMENT 3 | BIG APPLE BATTLE
| POS. | SCHOOL | POINTS | +/- | STARTS | WINS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of North Carolina at Charlotte | 115 | Ldr. | 3 | 1 |
| 2 | Ball State University | 107 | -8 | 3 | 0 |
| 3 | Purdue University in Indianapolis | 106 | -9 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | Belmont Abbey College | 103 | -12 | 2 | 0 |
| 5 | Eastern Shore Community College | 99 | -16 | 2 | 0 |
| 6 | California State University, Sacramento | 80 | -35 | 2 | 2 |
| 7 | Bowling Green State University* | 67 | -48 | 2 | 0 |
| 8 | Tarrant County College District* | 39 | -76 | 1 | 0 |
| 9 | University of Georgia | 39 | -76 | 1 | 0 |
| 10 | Arizona State University* | 38 | -77 | 1 | 0 |
* = Did not start / Was not eligible to score points in Tournament 3
LEAVING WATKINS GLEN
With Holmes in control of the Student Championship for at least two more weeks, Wilkerson now has an Ault in his mirror in the standings, the two separated by just four points leaving Watkins Glen. Garza also has a decent point total after three Finals, 25 points back of Holmes heading to Michigan.
In the School Championship, Ault once again won it for Sacramento State, but by missing out on points at the Peachtree Pursuit, they sit only in sixth. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte only managed to get fourth this week, with Alexander Papadimitriou’s sixth place effort, but they continue to lead the way over Ball State by eight points, and over Purdue in Indianapolis by nine.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: GREAT LAKES GAUNTLET CLOSES OUT FALL SEMESTER
The final race in the Fall Semester of the 2026-27 eNASCAR College iRacing Series season presented by Logitech G is the Great Lakes Gauntlet at Michigan International Speedway. The Time Attack opened a few days ago, on November 3rd, and will close on November 8th.
Week 1 of the fourth Tournament starts on Wednesday, November 11th, at 7:00 p.m. ET. Week 2 will take place one week later, on Wednesday, November 18th. Once again, the series will compete using the NASCAR Craftsman Trucks. Last season, the University of Maine at Machias’ Daniel Faulkingham went to victory lane in the Tournament. With Faulkingham graduated out of the series, who will take his place this season?
For more information on the eNASCAR College iRacing Series presented by Logitech G, visit pcl.gg/pages/enascar.
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