Lamborghini Esports: The Real Race 1 at Monza results

The second season of The Real Race is underway with the focus on merging real racing with simulation.

The Real Race, powered by Lamborghini Esports is a competition utilizing Assetto Corsa Competizione with unique real-world offerings as prizes for top drivers. This year, the top drivers in each region will be invited to the headquarters of Lamborghini in Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy. One of those three drivers will become an official Lamborghini sim driver for the 2022 season.

There are three separate regions, each with its own rosters and points standings separate from one another. The APAC region covers countries in Asia Pacific, the entire continent of Australia and People’s Republic of China. Those competing in the EMEA region hail from Europe, the Middle East or Africa. Finally, the NALA region covers North America and Latin America.

There are ten total rounds in Season 2 of The Real Race. Open qualifiers before the event will enter drivers into the field of closed qualifying. From there, the fields are set for the race weekends. Seven events will be Sprint format, with a doubleheader of races for each region. Three events will be Endurance, which will be one longer race for each region.

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza is a historic circuit in Italy that’s been around for a long time, since it was built in 1922. Monza hosts historic open-wheel racing, the most notable being Formula 1 since 1949. Monza also hosts many other closed fendered Sports Car races throughout the calendar year, so putting these Lamborghini GT3 cars on the famed track made sense to kick off the new season.

For Monza, each region was qualified for an initial sprint race of 45 minutes. The results of the sprint race set the grid for the hour-long feature shortly afterwards. Here’s how each region’s races did in round 1.

APAC MONZA 1: Huang dominates from the pole position

The first race in the series pitted APAC region drivers against one another for 45 minutes of racing in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 virtual machines. Gary Huang and Fadhli Rachmat led the field into the Variante del Rettifilo side-by-side as the next row behind got three-wide. Moreno Pratama ended up with the short end of the stick, as three-wide just wasn’t going to work. Pratama bounced between Egor Ogorodnikov and Ivan Shermetinskii and eventually lost control.

One pit stop was required, some opting for an undercut, some opting to go long, and as was the case for the leader, some opted to split it up evenly. Huang reclaimed the lead with 13 minutes to go when Andrew Laurenson finally decided to take service. From there, Huang went on to win by a little more than two seconds over Ogorodnikov.

APAC Monza Race 1 Results 

APAC MONZA 2: Huang keeps it first in second race

The second race lined up drivers as they finished in the first event. Driving a different livery this time around, Huang was still able to produce the same result. This time, however, Huang was overtaken in the initial chicane by Ogorodnikov as the rest of the field followed through behind them.

Ogorodnikov held the lead through the first half, but when the mandatory pits came up, Huang opted to wait a little longer, trying to gain as much time now no longer in dirty air. As Huang exited the pit, Ogorodnikov was closing in fast and tried to get ahead before the Variante del Rettifilo chicane. Unfortunately, Ogorodnikov misjudged it and overshot, and a lap later, he conceded the spot to Huang to avoid further penalty.

Once again, Laurenson played the long game, pitting last with 19 minutes remaining, cycling the lead around to Huang for the first and final time. Huang swept the event and left the weekend with a perfect score of 50 points. Ogorodnikov took 18 points per race for a total of 36, while Shermetinskii wound up with 32 overall after a pair of P3 finishes.

APAC Monza Race 2 Results 

EMEA MONZA 1: Sherratt takes top spot in Race 1

In the first race of the EMEA region, the first lap could not have gone any better for Jordan Sherratt. For the rest of the field, it could not have been more suspect. The trouble turn all night was the Variante del Rettifilo, especially on lap 1. This time, Messaoud Redoine, who started second, got a tap from Johan Oufella as they exited the chicane, handing Sherratt a huge advantage immediately as the rest of the field attempted to avoid. Martin Kadlečík was able to move through and into second.

A few moments later, entering Variante della Roggia, the rest of the field from third on back started making tons of contact, multiple drivers finding speed bumps re-entering the track after an excursion through the chicane. Sharratt pitted with around 20 minutes to go. As the battle was on for essentially the third spot behind him and Kadlečík, Sharratt stayed mistake-free, collecting the first victory in the EMEA region on the night.

EMEA Monza Race 1 Results 

EMEA MONZA 2: Sherratt stays perfect, wins race 2

A much less exciting race, but for the right reasons, the EMEA field calmed things down quite a bit in the second, longer race of the evening. There were a few more dropouts from drivers giving up earlier on, but from the start, Sherratt had the pace and strategy to dominate once again.

Kadlečík continued to show second-best speed through the event, although he was challenged early on in the tricky first chicane by Niklas Houben. Houben finished third in the first race, but slid back to finish seventh in race two. Kevin Siclari was able to put himself in position to round out the podium.

Sherratt leaves Monza with a perfect score of 50 as well, with Kadlečík scoring 36 points when it was over. Both Siclari and Houben scored 24 points in the event and sit tied at third after the first round.

EMEA Monza Race 2 Results 

NALA MONZA 1: Moreira scores first NALA victory

It was an interesting start to the final region’s first race at Monza. The NALA group seemingly had the cleanest start among the three regions, but it was in part due to the early retirement of William Hendrickson. Hendrickson pulled off from the third starting spot as the field took the green, leaving a large, comfortable gap as they entered the Variante del Rettifilo.

Fidel Moreira pulled out to an early lead, but Daniel Strufaldi kept him honest the entire 45-minute run. When it was complete, the gap was the closest of the night, just more than half a second between the two. Gabriel Felipe managed to grab third place after an intense run to the finish against Vinny Oliveira Leão and Igor de Oliveira Rodrigues.

NALA Monza Race 1 Results 

NALA MONZA 2: 3-for-3 sweeps, Moreira gets race 2 win

The second NALA race, and the final race of the evening was just as auspicious as the first EMEA race was earlier in the evening. Like Sherratt, Moreira was able to cruise to an early advantage after the rest of the field had trouble getting going. Strufaldi gave up a ton of time on the initial start, allowing Felipe to get alongside entering Variante della Roggia. Strufaldi couldn’t get the alternate line down and hopped the curb, causing the rest of the field to lose Moreira.

More chaos ensued through Curva di Lesmo, just before Variante Ascari at the tunnel, and then it finally began to settle down before the Curva Parabolica, all of it happening on the first lap. After the hour was up, Moreira was able to score a much easier victory than the last, keeping it perfect on the event for sweeps among all the regions. Moreira scored 50 perfect points with Strufaldi taking his share of 36 after two runner-up finishes. Felipe took 28 total after a fourth-place finish in race 2.

NALA Monza Race 2 Results 

Check out the full event below. Yeah, it was 10 hours long. Next up is Laguna Seca on 11th July. That event will also be a Sprint event with two races per region.