Following a semi-final stage a day earlier which witnessed 20 drivers be knocked out, the remaining 20 lined up for a 30-minute race in identical Tatuus Formula 4 single-seaters on RaceRoom Racing Experience.
The winner of this final showdown around the Hockenheimring took home a Prodigy Pass, allowing them access to the motorsport training camp – Prodigy Week – in November, with the ultimate goal of a drive in a 2024 real-world championship.
The grid was set by a combination of total race time and the quickest individual lap during the semi-final round. That meant the two race winners from the day prior sat on the front row, with Marko Pejic’s shorter lap time netting him pole position ahead of Michael Romanidis.
Veloce Esports’ Alessandro Ottaviani and Dörr Esports’ Lucas Müller completed the second row.
As the starting light gantry changed from red to green, Pejic led, but Romanidis lost out to Ottaviani heading down Parabolika on the opening lap. The Greek driver, who made it to the eRace of Champions final earlier this year, managed to stave off attacks from Jan von der Heyde and Müller at the hairpin.
Müller would slip by von der Heyde coming out of that same corner eight minutes later. Now in fourth, but with the top three edging away.
The battle for the top steps of the podium was stable for the first third, but they were covered by less than half a second. Ottaviani had a brief look at the hairpin with 19 minutes left of the clock, but Pejic held firm.
The main action was for sixth place, a fierce battle between Adam Pinczes, Leonard Krippner and Florian Haase would take up the majority of the race. Pinczes would hold off several attacks from Krippner, often running side-by-side around the German venue.
With Krippner failing to make progress at the halfway stage, he let Dörr colleague Haase through. The latter would eventually get the move done with 11 minutes left of the race thanks to Pinczes running wide at the Spitzkehre.
Up front, it all came down to the final lap, with the top three all driving respectably to this point. As Pejic covered the inside line at the hairpin, Ottaviani tried to get the cut-back at the corner’s exit, only to be tapped by a chasing Romanidis.
It robbed the chasing pack of momentum, and despite an attempt at the next braking zone, Pejic was clear, taking the race win and a Prodigy Pass.
“I’m speechless… It was probably my hardest win ever,” said Pejic.
“Ottaviani was always pushing me, and it was just qualifying lap after qualifying lap for 30 minutes and I was not able to break away.”
The German driver joins Gustavo Ariel, Kane Halliburton, Laurens Beerten and recent addition David Dalton Jr. as Prodigy Pass holders. Another round, this time using rFactor 2, is currently open for qualification ahead of racing later this month, while two further draft picks are also expected.
Prodigy Racing League, Racing Prodigy, RaceRoom Tournament 4 2023 results
- Marko Pejic
- Alessandro Ottaviani
- Michael Romanidis
- Lucas Müller
- Jan von der Heyde
- Florian Hasse
- Matt Caruana
- Leo Krippner
- Ilia Drovossekov
- Gašper Mrak
