ADAC SimRacing Expo GT500: Sven Haase quick off the mark

After a dominant display from all involved in this year’s opening weekend of the Asetek Simsport Community Trophy, it was time for the ADAC Sim Racing Expo’s flagship competition to get started, the ADAC Digital GT500.

Moving away from its traditional format, the five-round, 10-race championship will feature a range of cars and tracks from the iRacing stable of content. The selection will change between each round, with drivers only getting 24 hours notice on what they will be racing before the event itself.

Round 1 featured one of the latest GT3 offerings from iRacing, the Ford Mustang GT3, around the twisty Virginia International Raceway.

Sven Haase set his stall out early but fought for every inch across the 10-lap race taking the win from Dino Lombardi and Simone Maria Marcenò by a gap of less than three seconds spread across the podium.

It was not plain sailing for the rest of this prodigious grid, however. Rondoletto, Thomsen and Rouyer were brought to the race directors attention during the event picking up additional time penalties which could affect their starting position for Race Two.

ADAC SimRacing Expo GT500 Race 1 result

1. #46 Sven Haase – 10 laps
2. #13 Dino Lombardi – -0:02.169 Seconds
3. #27 Simone Maria Marcenò – -0:02.514 Seconds
4. #30 Lorenzo Manfredotti – -0:03.010 Seconds
5. #555 Alexander Davidson – -0:04.705 Seconds

The second race would flip the top 20 drivers from the first on their heads with a familiar face, Igor Wąsowski, starting on pole position.

An action-packed first lap, saw around 10 cars caught up in a multitude of incidents splitting the pack up.

Sedgley and Rouyer were deemed culpable and picked up additional time penalties of 10 seconds a piece before the race really got going.

A much tighter affair, if you can believe it, saw the top six drivers from race two separated by only 1.711 seconds at the chequered flag. Thomas Cope capitalized on a scrappy touring car-esque second race taking the top step joined by Pable Espes and pole sitter Igor Wąsowski.

ADAC SimRacing Expo GT500 Race 2 result

1. #64 Thomas Cope – 10 laps
2. #11 Pablo Espes – -0:00.103 Seconds
3. #91 Igor Wąsowski -0:00.347 Seconds
4. #999 Hendrik Augustin – -0:00.650 Seconds
5. #41 Steen Ledger – -0:01.126 Seconds

With both races awarding points, drivers were trying to collect and,  in some places, recover as many positions as they could to keep them in with a shout at the crown come the ADAC Sim Racing Expo in October.

Sven Haase tops the tree accumulating 169 points across the 2 races followed by Dino Lombardi and Pablo Espes on 143 and 137 points respectively.

ADAC SimRacing Expo GT500 standing after Round 1

1. Sven Haase – 169 Points
2. Dino Lombardi – 143 Points
3. Pablo Espes – 137 Points
4. Jarno Koch – 132 Points
5. Hedrik Augustin – 130 Points

Drivers will now prepare for Round 2 on 18th August with the car and track combination being announced on the ADAC Sim Racing Expo Social media channels the day prior.