IMSA Esports Global Championship: Redline redemption in second round

Team Redline dominated the results sheets with victory in both classes in the second round of the 2024/25 IMSA Esports Global Championship on iRacing.

In GTP, it was yet another BMW win, with Chris Lulham and Diogo C. Pinto winning by a scant 0.6s and finally achieving a result that their pace deserved – the duo were caught in someone else’s accident two weeks ago.

It was far from straightforward for the eventual winners, as the #4 Crowdstrike Racing entry of Pablo Lazar and Scott Michaels qualified on pole position ahead of Round 1 victors Williams Esports Chillblast. The eventual race winners were back in sixth.

The leading Acura initially pulled away from the field at the start of the two-hour 40-minute race, but with 15 minutes completed, Jaden Munoz in the #5 plus Alexander Spetz in the #33 had closed in to within a second of Lazar.

Drama befell the championship leader. As Munoz tried for a move for the lead, contact was made with the GTD #144 Mercedes-AMG, spinning the BMW GTP on the grass at Turn 7. It dropped to sixth.

Lazar was clinging on up front with a queue formed behind. The #33 and #89 BMWs in second and third tripped over each other and some lapped traffic, gifting Pinto in the #20 fourth place.

Moments later, Spetz would eventually take the lead, running around the outside of the Acura at Turn 4. The Crowdstrike entry would drop another position upon entering pitroad to the Redline entry too.

Despite losing track position in the process, Lazar was judged to have sped down the lane, and then later, the car hit the barriers after an unorthodox line through the chicane.

The #5 and #89 GTPs seemed to be magnetised, battling through the middle section of the race, even crossing either side of traffic at the chicane. This briefly let one of Race Clutch’s Cadillacs by, but they would get back past again soon after.

Christian Hildgaard in the #11 and Xander Reed in the #18 ran alternate strategies to vault up the field, which didn’t work out in the end. The #11, for instance, would fall foul of GTD traffic, launching off an AMG and into the barriers with just over 30 minutes remaining.

Once all the stops and drive swaps had filtered through, Lulham led, but Phil Denes in the #89 closed in, being able to run a richer fuel mixture. Despite not quite making it, the BS+ Competition driver helped deliver a scintillating finish.

“We knew it was going to come down to the line on fuel,” said Lulham, who won a real-world Radical championship earlier this year.

“I didn’t expect it to be that close on the final lap.”

Two from two for Redline in GTD

Meanwhile, in the GTD category, Lulham and Pinto’s team-mates, Florian A Lebigre and Enzo Bonito, won for the second time in two races to extend a championship lead.

AO Racing’s Rexy 911 secured pole position, with the 56 Racing Team Corvette in second. The class-winning #171 Redline lined up third, with its team-mate #170 uncharacteristically in 10th.

The dinosaur-themed Porsche pulled away form the field n the first lap, but the #171 Ferrari moved up to second straight away and then took the lead after the first 25 minutes were completed.

It never looked back.

Elsewhere, in a tricky race, the #102 received a drive-through penalty for a start violation, the #150 McLaren was turned into the wall after contact with the #110 Mahle Racing Team BMW M4 and the #177 Valkyrie Competition Ford made contact with the #103 Ferrari.

The loss of momentum resulted in a punt up the back by the #89 BMW GTP and a spin for the Mustang. Mind it, it could have been worse, as the #120 Dörr Esports ‘Vette had a big crash on the frontstretch following contact with the #8 GTP.

The next round of the IMSA Esports Global Championship is at a virtual Sebring on 5th January 2025. The broadcast can be watched on IMSA and iRacing’s channels and will be preceded by The Countdown to Green show, presented by Traxion. 

IMSA Esports Global Championship 2024 Race 2 results

GTP

1. #20 BMW M Team Redline – BMW – Chris Lulham, Diogo C. Pinto
2. #89 BMW M Team BS+COMPETITION – BMW – Daniel Alves Lourenco, Phil Denes
3. #5 Williams Esports Chillblast – BMW – Jaden Munoz, Matt J. Farrow
4. #60 SOELPEC Precision Racing – Porsche – Maximilian Muir, Agustin Canapino
5. #95 Channel 199 Sim Racing – Cadillac – Owen Caryl, Casey Kirwan

GTD

1. #171 Team Redline – Ferrari – Florian A Lebigre, Enzo Bonito
2. #118 AO Racing by Coanda Esports – Porsche – Tristan Iglesias, Michael Janney
3. #198 Mercedes-AMG Esports Team ART – Mercedes-AMG – Yohann Harth, Peter Berryman
4. #169 DRAGO RACING – Lamborghini – Nicolas Mateo, Ricardo Rico R.
5. #156 56 Racing Team – Chevrolet – Gaël Valero, Antoine Bastard