BMW struggle whilst Yas Heat, Redline and Mercedes all win again in V10 R-League

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BMW struggle whilst Yas Heat, Redline and Mercedes all win again in V10 R-League

The second race week of the V10 R-League took place on Friday (10th June 2022) with eight of the ten teams going head-to-head against one another. This week, R8G Esports and Team Fordzilla had off, and Aston Martin and the BMW Sim Racing Team entered the fray for the first time.

BMW SIM Racing vs. Suzuki Team Jean Alesi Esports Academy (1-3)

Losing your star driver can never be easy, especially off the back of a season winning campaign. Nevertheless, this is what BMW SIM Racing had to contend with as the second week of V10 R-League Season 3 got underway.

Alen Terzic remained as team leader joined by Ibraheem Khan and Gregor Schill. Their opponents in Suzuki Team Jean Alesi Esports Academy (Suzuki Team JAE) brought with them experienced runners; Domenico Lovece, Dario Iemmulo and Leonardo D’Alcamo. 

Despite choosing Silverstone Circuit as their home track, BMW would find only misery across two races. The Relay was incredibly comfortable for Team Suzuki JAE who only continued to build their gap as the four laps went by. The Team Race was even worse as Khan and Schill came together almost immediately. This was before Terzic, after a phenomenal launch, got too aggressive with pole sitter Lovece and spun.

BMW would pick up one point from the Relay Race at Spa-Francorchamps thanks largely in part to pitstop issues for Team Suzuki JAE. However, the Franco-Japanese outfit would claim the series as their own, bouncing back in immediately.

Lovece and D’Alcamo locked out the front row although the second of the Italians would suffer at the start losing position to Schill and Khan. Sadly for Khan he would fall to the back after contact at La Source followed by a spin up at Raidillon. 

With Lovece dominating, it would be a loss then to open up the reigning champion’s title defence. A big opening win on the board for Team Suzuki JAE.

Yas Heat Esports vs. Williams Esports (4-0) 

Silverstone was back for a second time as Yas Heat’s pick against Williams Esports who were, like Team Suzuki JAE, playing their first match of the season a week later than anticipated.

Michael Romanidis was the big pickup for Williams, moving across from BMW, with Daniele Haddad arriving from Aston Martin. Martin Stefanko, a long-time resident of the outfit, was expected to lead the charge. 

After a false start thanks to technical issues, the first Relay went just about as well as Yas Heat could have hoped. The Williams car was always kept at arms length and a third consecutive Relay Race victory was theirs.

The Team Race went even better as a top three lockout was converted into a 1-2-3 finish for the Heat. Most impressive was the multi-second gap between third-placed Pejic and the lead Williams machine. 

Pitlane problems would plague Williams yet again at their chosen circuit of Monza but this time around no mulligen was called. Their dire evening landed hand thanks to yet another Team Race domination by Yas Heat.

Team Redline vs. Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Esports Team (3-0)

Team Redline had done incredibly well to fend off a Week 1 challenge by Red Bull Racing. This time around their opponents were Aston Martin who brought Manuel Biancolilla, Alejandro Sánchez & Simon Weigang to the party.

Spa-Francorchamps would prove to be a great pick for Redline although they were aided massively in the Relay thanks to yet another pitstop issue befalling a team, Sánchez the unlucky driver forced into a retirement this time around. 

Jeffrey Rietveld was subbed in for Michal Šmídl this week and did a marvelous job in the Team Race. Despite Aston Martin holding the early advantage with Biancolilla on pole position, Siggy was able to take the race lead early on whilst fourth-placed Rietveld fended off Weigang and Sánchez. No more major changes meant Redline had locked in two points.

The last point they would earn came in the Relay Race which was a pretty standard affair. Biancolilla stepped back into the limelight for the Team Race and looked incredibly convincing as he crossed the finish line as winner.

Sadly, the rest of his team came last and second-from-last thus meaning that only a draw was achieved. A ‘clean sheet’ for Redline but no clean sweep. 

Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports vs. Mercedes AMG-Petronas Esports (1-3)

Redline’s inability to grab that fourth point opened the door to Mercedes AMG topping Group B following their dismantling of Team Fordzilla a week ago. Red Bull Racing had gone, literally, one better than Aston Martin by taking a point off Redline in the opening Relay Race of their own matchup. 

There was no stopping the Silver Arrows at their choice of circuit, Silverstone once again on the docket. The Relay Race was rather comfortable and the Team Race made even more so by a mistake from Liam Parnell who found the barriers after a spin into Maggotts. This left the Mercedes running 1-2-3 leaving Cedric Thome to put on the defensive gloves against Joni Törmälä who never got quite close enough.

Parnell would find himself culpable for dropped points yet again as their Spa-Francorchamps Relay Race was over in a matter of seconds.

After leading through Eau Rouge, Parnell inexplicably slowed catching Jarno Opmeer off-guard. This led to the Red Bull doing sommersaults down the Kemmel Straight and gifting Mercedes the overall win. 

A horrid day for Parnell was capped off by contact from behind in the Team Race. This time around he was totally innocent with Bono Huis the guilty party, holding up teammate Opmeer in the process.

The Brit’s sacrifice was not in vain as it allowed both Yuri Kasdorp and pole sitter turned race leader Törmälä to break away. Kasdorp’s hesitancy to put Thome to the sword with superior pace almost led to disaster as it invited both Opmeer and Huis back into a draw salvaging scenario. 

Thankfully for Red Bull, Kasdorp remained in fourth to give them another point in the group.

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