It’s less than three months until SimRacing Expo 2025 in Dortmund, and over three rounds, a few drivers from PRO and AM categories of the ‘Road to’ competition (powered by Asetek SimSports) will be invited to compete in-person at the event.
The first round came from iRacing‘s Navarra recreation, and because of the slow speed, yet brilliant, BMW M2 CS Racing cars used, a shorter version of the Spanish track was utilised, making for a draft-heavy pair of races.
Race 1
Hungarian Pinter Zsombi made good use of the few corners there are, just eight at this circuit, to take pole and lead the field away in the first race. Just as well, because behind there were numerous huge crashes, as early as the front straight.
The calamity left just 14 drivers in touch after the first three turns, and even that only lasted until lap five, as Alessandro Porta was sent bowling by Sven Haase. Porta careered across the circuit into the unfortunate Zain Khan too, taking loads of cars out of contention.
Zsombi very nearly broke the slipstream to Vazquez as a result, but he did just enough to get back in touch. It took a while for him to get into a position to make an overtake, but by lap 14, he was able to send a move down the inside at turn three.
It was slightly late, but he was well alongside, and Zsombi was unfortunate to be clipped by Vazquez’s rear left wheel arch, sending him into a slide. Such was the loss of momentum that Zsombi never got back to Vazquez, who took the PRO victory, while Mathieu Collin took seventh place and the AM win.
Race 2
A top 20 reverse grid would more than keep the interest in the second instalment of the 20-minute races, with Diogo Faria taking pole ahead of Porta, who managed to salvage 19th after his lap five crash. It was a much cleaner start this time, and so an early draft train did emerge, with natural selection eventually cutting drivers off the back.
By the time Sven Haase – who finished third in race one – had spun on lap three, the front six had broken away, and two laps later, Porta used bump drafting to reduce it to a one-on-one battle with Faria. Further back, Zsombi and Vazquez were working their way through the field, and it almost looked as if they were working together at one stage.
Clearly, that was not the case by the end, as the Hungarian pipped Vazquez to ninth, evening the score after his first race defeat. Further ahead, Porta worked his way past Faria and very nearly threw it all away at the final corner, allowing the Portuguese driver a run on him to the line.
He would only just fall short, with Porta winning by just 0.023 seconds, while behind, Aaron Cooke took an AM victory with fourth overall.
It was great racing to start the season, as these BMWs were always going to provide. But while the front two in PRO have gotten off to a flying start, it’s worth remembering there are two drop races to factor in, alongside four other spots at SimExpo that will be wide open over the next month or so.
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