While it was the UK’s Jack Keithley on the top step at Lausitzring in the first round, he had to give way to his team-mate Nikodem Wisniewski at the Nürburgring. Wisniewski had qualified his Mercedes-AMG GT in third at the shortened course layout, behind the Corvette of Tim Jarschel and Nestor Garcia’s Mercedes, but passed Garcia into the first turn.
With Garcia’s mirrors filled with Keithley and Erhan Jajovski, the lead duo was able to pull a clear two seconds’ advantage. Wiseniewski opted to take his mandatory pit stop at the end of lap ten, coming out in tenth place but, importantly, in clear air, two seconds ahead of Keithley.
When Jarschel came in two laps later, Wiseniewski had made the fresh tyres count, and passed the pit exit as Jarschel was leaving. Though Jarschel was able to put in the fastest race lap – by just 0.012 seconds – late in the race, he wasn’t able to catch up to the Williams man. Wiseniewski took the chequered flag by just over two seconds.
Coming in behind Jarschel was the second of the Williams drivers, as Keithley backed up his race win last time out with another podium finish. Defending ADAC GT Masters Esports champion Moritz Lohner came in fourth, ahead of Red Bull’s Garcia in fifth.
The race win puts Wiseniewski into the early championship lead after two of the seven rounds, ahead of team-mate Keithley. Hockenheimring is next on the calendar, coming up in mid-September.
Britain’s Sebastian Job has retained the lead of the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup, after the Brands Hatch round, despite a race win for defending champion Joshua Rogers. Red Bull driver Job took a pair of podium finishes at the Kent circuit, finishing between Rogers and Alejandro Sanchez in the sprint race and behind the pair in the feature race following an opening lap clash with Sanchez that initially dropped the British driver to fourth. The result gives Job a 14-point lead over Rogers – with Sanchez in third – with two rounds remaining.
Arguably the most high profile esports series will also get underway this month. F1 Esports revealed in the week that its Pro Draft will take place on 27th August, as part of a changed schedule for 2020. The Pro Draft sees each of the ten F1 teams, representing all ten of the real-world F1 outfits, select at least one driver from the 45 qualified players to join their existing squads.
Last year’s overall winner, David Tonizza, was selected by Ferrari Driver Academy via the Pro Draft, so it’s a vital part of the calendar. With the full complement of 30 drivers, the racing itself will get underway in October. There’ll be 12 events in total, all run remotely for this season, and a shared prize fund of some $750,000 (£575,000) on offer.
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