Dear friends of virtual racing,
Yesterday was another busy day at Autopolis. My assumption was that the riders would recover from the street circuits and be a bit more relaxed this time, but somehow that wasn’t the riders’ intention.
Qualifying was a quiet event, with the odd spin here and there, fair passing for the drivers on the fast laps and a little thrill for the spectators. At first, the familiar faces such as Walter, Krüger, Pleiss and Hermann dominated the podium. But then someone came out of the woodwork who I particularly like: Kai Brandt finally said goodbye to the midfield again and showed in the last 4 minutes of qualifying that the old 650s also has its advantages. He took the podium by exactly one tenth of a second! Andreas Walter started from second place and Robin Ricke from the Mintgen sister team secured third place.
Yannick Pleiss started behind or rather next to Robin, which probably brought back bad memories for Roland. But Robin was able to convince him in the interview that nothing would happen. Kai was even a little surprised by his performance and was obviously a little nervous before the race, because he knows very well that his car doesn’t take very good care of the tires.
Our youngest participant, Louis Schütze, was finally at the start again and secured 26th place. Junio Lopes started as a guest from 8th place, a clean performance.
Andre Beckert was also at the start 😊. After a good year of “maternity leave”, he got back behind the wheel and started from the back of the field from an observer’s perspective. In the picture still with guest paintwork.
The start of the race was another special one. Robin in his “Startmeister Mercedes” and Walter in the 720s probably got off to the best start. Andreas was already in the lead after the first bend, ahead of Robin and Kai. Kai didn’t get away particularly well but was able to defend himself quite well against the rest of the field.
Anyone who knows the track and knows how to drive it to set fast lap times also knows that the first corner off the racing line is difficult to drive. Unfortunately, some riders in the midfield had to experience this and got in each other’s way. Marcel Hesen, Jan Schmid and Stefan Bäumer were among those involved. They all lose a lot of places and have to repair some of them. Marcel Hesen then abandoned the vehicle. What a pity! If he had known how the field was going to rotate, he would certainly have continued on his luck.
After the guys from Team International Racing took their first strike result in the last race, it has to be said that this race did not build on their previous performance. Jan had difficulties finding his rhythm after the accident and Max Römer in 8th position lost the car in a duel with contact. Andreas and Lothar were unable to attend and could only watch the stream.
The race was littered with duels in all positions. While Andreas Walter rode happily and alone ahead, Robin had a hard time getting away from Kai. Contrary to what was predicted, Kai was able to keep up very well and didn’t let anything burn. 😉 Roland then calls it “Brandt-dangerous”! You have to be seriously careful that this doesn’t become a running gag.
The first half hour was really hot! The entire field was very close together in several small groups and of course there were some great overtaking maneuvers to watch. Things really got going around Matthias Weber and the Vortex team.
Thomas Batzke, for example, fought a battle with Team International Racing for almost the entire race. Elias Hermann and Yannick Pleiss can also be mentioned here, who fought a very heated battle over several rounds. And the two of them really didn’t miss a maneuver. From a simple bump to a synchronized ride into the gravel, everything was there. Some drivers would consider certain actions questionable. In the end, Elias came out on top against Yannick and both crossed the finish line, even if the odd bruise still lingers.
What struck me particularly during the entire race was that the Mercedes were less fortunate at first. First, Robin Ricke can no longer avoid a Ferry Overwater when it loses its vehicle. Then Rene von Dobschütz was sent into the grass and the third Mercedes, driven by Patrick Leitner, was caught on the rear in the braking zone. All three were more or less just “spectators” at these moments, had to make repairs and lost a few places, some of which they were able to make up. Patrick gained a total of 4 places compared to his starting position and Rene gained 9. Without the incidents, he would certainly have been able to do better. Unfortunately, Robin was only able to fight his way back to 19th place.
Despite the poor start, Jan Schmid was able to hold his own over the course of the race and took the Highest Climber Award with 15 well-done places. Our offspring, Louis Schütze, was able to gain 6 places and finished the race in P20. Unfortunately, things didn’t go so well for Junio Lopes, who struggled to find his pace after an accident and ultimately retired from the race. Andre Beckert can celebrate a worthy debut. He gains 4 places compared to his starting position.
You can imagine what was on offer in this race just by looking at these rankings. The riders were all hot, they were all well prepared and they were all similarly fast. The time table also shows this. Around 50% of the starters finished the race on the same lap as the leader. Another 35% of the field were only one lap down. Hammer numbers dear drivers.
In the end, Kai was no longer able to maintain his 3rd place and let Krüger take the lead. His team colleague Stefan Wukovatz had arrived in P2 and was clearly delighted to speak to Roland in person again. Stefan started from 9th place – a great performance! Andreas Walter won peacefully and more or less alone. He truly deserves that after the misery in St. Petersburg. Frank Phlipsen once again completed the top 5 and scored important points for the team championship with his teammate Thomas Batzke.
Yes, there’s also a battle going on here – all the time, so to speak – because WuD and VorteX have been battling it out for years! The two teams are currently separated by 11 points. Let’s see if WuD can hold on to 3rd place. Before you get the wrong impression from the picture: They just love each other 🙂 .
The drivers’ table remains exciting. Maximilian Dehn is still in the lead, but Yannick Pleiss and Loris Brock are slowly closing the gap. Max still has a cushion of 25 points, but nothing is over yet, we still have 3 races to go this season. I hope Max can take part again soon!
Now I’ll add a few more picture impressions and hope you enjoy the stream. For more information, please visit the GTW page or visit us in Discord. The action continues next Sunday at the Cleveland airfield. One thing I already know is that it will certainly be an interesting race!
#GT3 #GT3 World Tour #rfactor2 #simracecommunity #Simracing #Simulation
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