Flying Finn Tommi Mäkinen (no, not that one) claimed an impressive victory against stern opposition in Traxion’s first-ever community rally event over at rallysimfans.
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of Richard Burns Rally’s PC release, the community event attracted 86 drivers in total, with 48 finishing. The 40 km event consisted of six tricky tests, including RBR favourites like Chirdonhead, Biskupice and Gabiria-Legazpi, with a pair of Traxion sim racing gloves up for grabs for the podium finishers.
However, it was FIA Rally Star alumnus Mäkinen who seized the early advantage, finishing the opening Biskupice stage half a second clear of Portuguese challenger Oscar Estevez, with WRC Esports competitor Lilian Richard a couple of tenths further back.
Mäkinen and Richard would trade blows in the subsequent five stages, with the pair setting ludicrously quick times in the rally’s longest stage, Valstagna, emerging well over 10s clear of third-place Finn and RSF admin Aleksi Paakkinen.
But it was Mäkinen who stamped his authority on the rally, winning every stage to finish 8.5s ahead of Richard at its conclusion. Despite showing strong pace on the three opening asphalt stages, Estevez would finish nearly 10s behind Paakkinen after the final gravel test, ending up a creditable fourth against such strong competition.
Although not regular virtual rally competitors, Traxion’s own John Munro and Ross McGregor also participated, with Munro electing to tackle the stages without a recce in his Skoda Fabia R5 Evo. Impressively, the 2016 MaX 5 Racing Championship champion was able to clear every stage without incident, ending up 23rd overall.
McGregor, using a Keith Cronin British Rally Championship livery on his VW Polo R5, finished 8th in the R5 class and 13th overall, setting one top-10 time in a steady run to the finish.
Remember, you can still win a pair of Traxion gloves by sharing your most impressive moment, best near-miss or most embarrassing crash from the rally in the Traxion Discord server’s #video-showcase and #screenshots-and-liveries sections.
Full rally results can be found here at rallysimfans.
Check out our Richard Burns Rally 20th anniversary retrospective and our full interview with RBR gurus AleksiP, mika-n and WorkerBee for more RBR goodness.
Did you participate in the first Traxion community rally? Would you like to see more Traxion-themed RBR events on RSF? Let us know in the comments below!
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