Please select your country / region

The third stage of the 2020 Nations Cup got underway on 7 July.

Stage 2 had ended with reigning Oceania region champion, Latkovski (Nik_Makozi) of Australia on top of the pile. His closest rival, New Zealand's McEwen (AE_McEwen), had shown impressive signs of improvement but came a little unstuck in the third stage, failing to pick up any more points after scoring 357 in Round 24.

Latkovski therefore went into the final race having built up an insurmountable lead over the rest of the field.

Top 16 Superstars - Round 30

The final race of Stage 3 took place on the Sardegna Road Track. All drivers drove X2019 Competition cars.
Latkovski lived up to expectations by taking pole position. His compatriot Lindgren (dylanlindgren) raised a few eyebrows by taking second place. Lindgren had shown flashes in earlier races of having what it takes to get the better of Latkovski, so all eyes were on him for a last-minute upset. McEwen, the driver in second position overall, had to settle for fifth place on the starting grid.

Lindgren got off to a spectacular start, pulling away like a rocket to overtake Latkovski and move into the lead. Latkovski seemed flustered, clipping a guard rail after taking the first corner a little too wide. This allowed Lindgren to build up an early lead over the chasing pack. Latkovski then found himself being put under pressure by his compatriot Jones (emreeree), one of Oceania's finest female drivers. He would soon compose himself, however, and was able to return to his usual pace.

On the fourth lap, Latkovski made use of Lindgren's slipstream to overtake him and reclaim the lead.

But something wasn't quite right with the champion. On the sixth lap, he got into a spin on the seventh turn. It was a mistake that was extremely out of character, and saw him drop down to eighth place. This allowed Lindgren to retake the lead without breaking a sweat. It's no exaggeration to say that this was the moment at which the outcome of the race was decided.

Meanwhile, the battle for best of the rest was heating up, with some clever driving from McEwen—who had started in fifth place on the grid—seeing him climb up through the field, eventually overtaking Jones to move into second place.

After 24 laps, the chequered flag was raised for Lindgren, who had delivered a hugely impressive performance from start to finish—a performance made even more impressive by the fact that the X2019 Competition is not an easy car to handle.

Latkovski managed to recover, to some extent, from the spin that saw him drop down to eighth, eventually finishing the race in fourth place. Fortunately for him, the huge lead he'd build up in earlier rounds was enough to see him cling onto first place and win the series.

There were many moments during the 2020 series when Latkovski was put under pressure by up-and-coming drivers such as McEwen and Jones. At the end of the day, however, the champion showed his true colours, overcoming all these challenges and more. As the 2020 series draws to a close in Oceania, Latkovski can now look forward to taking on his rivals from around the world.

Rank	Driver	DR	SR	Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Rd. 11	Rd. 12	Rd. 13	Rd. 14	Rd. 15	Rd. 16	Rd. 17	Rd. 18	Rd. 19	Rd. 20	Rd. 21	Rd. 22	Rd. 23	Rd. 24	Rd. 25	Rd. 26	Rd. 27	Rd. 28	Rd. 29	Rd. 30	Total
1	Australia Nik_Makozi	S	S	252	276	354	273	289	227	374	-	278	364	0	225	252	228	219	371	-	204	273	378	-	207	239	385	285	-	-	378	-	337	2941
2	New Zealand AE_McEwen	S	S	210	288	342	228	-	272	334	162	255	378	-	-	-	-	229	358	-	248	285	365	-	-	-	357	-	-	187	-	75	364	2786
3	Australia emreeree	S	S	218	228	316	249	282	277	266	262	316	335	-	-	259	270	-	318	246	-	-	296	-	270	-	343	-	-	-	364	-	351	2639
4	Australia MINT_Matt	S	S	-	234	329	-	-	241	361	299	-	255	226	-	257	-	282	-	236	-	238	0	285	-	-	371	237	271	281	337	286	296	2564
5	Australia LR__AmazingHour	S	S	251	240	0	260	269	284	253	255	290	321	265	-	280	246	283	304	222	216	261	351	-	176	-	315	233	-	134	350	-	310	2525
6	Australia dylanlindgren	S	S	229	190	291	172	277	0	293	254	197	349	223	178	223	-	0	331	221	-	190	337	154	251	246	259	216	183	268	0	212	378	2524
7	Australia MetalGear9493	A+	S	240	252	231	272	-	-	226	274	320	392	244	215	231	295	295	345	279	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2472
8	Australia VLX_GTR	S	S	-	-	-	-	229	252	347	182	280	221	220	-	-	-	81	278	-	237	-	310	-	-	199	231	261	-	67	282	-	323	2333
9	Australia AE_schnickoman	S	S	-	219	253	-	-	289	307	-	243	306	-	-	-	-	-	264	-	-	-	241	-	131	-	301	-	-	-	309	-	282	2311
10	New Zealand sidawg2	S	S	164	218	304	-	241	-	280	237	306	292	-	-	241	-	245	-	203	-	-	-	249	-	282	329	-	-	138	268	-	-	2310