eNASCAR Coke: Darik Bourdeau suspended for Atlanta due to Milwaukee indiscretion

iRacing confirmed to Traxion.GG on Thursday (March 2) that Darik Bourdeau, driver of the #1 sim seat Chevrolet for Elliott Sadler Esports, will compete for the upcoming race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 14, the third race of the year was blocked in 2023 Season of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series.

Both Bourdeau and his team, Elliott Sadler Esports, forfeited all race points earned in Milwaukee for both the driver and team championships related to the #1 car. Bourdeau will face another penalty in qualifying in his first race after his suspension on March 28 at Richmond Raceway.

Bourdeau finished 29th on the Milwaukee Mile, originally amassing eight points. The penalty imposed drops the Montmagny, Quebec, Canada rider to 19th overall in two races after finishing third in the season-opening race at Daytona.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Just past the halfway point of Tuesday night’s D-BOX at Milwaukee Mile 100, Bourdeau and Garrett Manes (FGR Accel eRacing) made contact at the restart, resulting in damage to Bourdeau’s No. 1 Chevrolet and a chain reaction warning flag for a spin that happened behind them.

During the warning phase, Bourdeau accelerated and chased Manes in what appeared to be an act of retaliation. In the process, the No. 1 Bourdeau side-swept the No. 55 Williams Esports Chevrolet, driven by Vicente Salas, which spun nose-first into the backstretch wall.

As Bourdeau caught up with Manes, he nudged him at the back end. Words were said and the situation fizzled out from there. Salas was an innocent bystander and came away with the worst damage.

THE IRACING SPORTING CODE

At iRacing, intentional wreck driving is prohibited in any case, regardless of whether it is in the world championship series or in the rookie class. It doesn’t look like Bourdeau meant to destroy Salas but the fact is he did and will now suffer the consequences as reported by iRacing officials.

iRacing does not officially release competitors’ penalties, but multiple sources have reached out to Traxion.GG following Thursday’s penalty, which we were able to confirm directly with iRacing later in the day. “We can confirm that in this particular case there were penalties for the driver and the team,” said iRacing.

It is first mentioned in the iRacing Sporting Code in Section 2.2.3 under Conduct on Track. It is specified in section 6.10.3 and the protest system is explained Section 9 – Protests. While these eNASCAR races are monitored by live stewards, these races are still governed by the same iRacing Sporting Code.

“Intentional, blatant, intentionally malicious, or retaliatory destruction for any reason is prohibited,” states Section 6.10.3 of the Sporting Code.

“Competitors who believe they have been the victim of such action – and those competitors who believe they have witnessed such action – are strongly encouraged to protest through the appropriate channels.”

ELLIOTT SADLER ESPORTS STATEMENT

Immediately after the incident happened, the iRacing broadcast team brought Bourdeau in for an interview during the caution period. “Stupid moves (were) made, and afterwards I feel so bad that I destroyed Vicente,” Bourdeau said.

“I didn’t want that at all. I don’t know, it was just stupid of everyone, mostly me.”

Traxion.GG reached out to Seth Reiter, co-owner of Elliott Sadler Esports, regarding the situation.

“ESE is fully aware of the on-track incident involving our driver Darik Bourdeau at the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series race in Milwaukee,” Reiter told Traxion.GG. “We do not condone his actions and he and ESE will fully accept the penalties imposed by the iRacing officials.”

“Darik has already privately apologized to all drivers involved, to ESE management and to iRacing. I also personally reached out to Vicente Salas to apologize and we had a good chat.”

“We all lose our composure sometimes and make mistakes. We’ve all been in that situation at iRacing. Darik is an amazing person and a brilliant driver. He will learn and grow from his mistake and ESE will continue to fully support him as an eNASCAR driver.”

Along with teammate Cody Byus, Bourdeau and the Elliott Sadler Esports team ranked 17th of 20 teams in the Team Championship after Milwaukee. After locking the second row in qualifying, neither Elliott Sadler Esports driver ended up in the top half of the field after both were involved in incidents.

The next race at Atlanta Motor Speedway will be on March 14 at the reconfigured Superspeedway-like version of the track. Based on previous eNASCAR suspensions, it’s likely that the #1 Chevy will not have a backup driver as the roster only includes 40 licensed drivers eligible to compete in the series.