Verstappen-affiliated team thrown out of iRacing event for “nefarious tactics”

Team Redline, and its three GT3 cars, have been thrown out of the iRacing Nürburgring 24h top split race in controversial circumstances.

The quarter-of-a-century-old sim racing outfit, which Max Verstappen is affiliated with and drives for, left the race 30 laps into the day-long affair. This followed a message from iRacing’s Chief Steward, Nim Cross, who cited the service’s sporting code:

“8.1.1.4. Cheating – Members may not cheat or otherwise engage in conduct deemed by iRacing to be in conflict with the spirit or Sporting Code.

“8.1.1.9. Nefarious Tactics – Drivers may not use nefarious tactics t tactics [sic] to gain an advantage in Qualifying or Racing. iRacing.com will determine what constitutes an advantage.”

Redline lined up first, second and seventh on the grid, with Gustavo Ariel, Sam Kuitert and Florian A. Lebigre setting the respective times.

Just as the pace car moves to lead the field for the rolling start down the Nürburgring Nordschleife’s Döttinger Höhe, all three Redline cars – now driven by Ariel, new recruit Luke McKeown and Chris Lulham – exited back to the pitlane,

This left Apex Racing Team’s Alejandro Sánchez at the head of the field.

There the Redline cars sat, in the pits, cars visibility raising and lowering on jacks for fresh tyres, until between one and two minutes into the race.

It is alleged that they opted for wet tyres, even though the track was dry, and minimum fuel levels for the race start. Then, by towing back to pitlane, they could place slick rubber, the correct fuel, and, so the allegations go, receive a lower ride height due to the wet tyres larger size.

A lower ride height could be an advantage throughout such a lengthy race. This exploit means you could potentially begin a race below the minimum prescribed levels, but legal due to the plumper wet tyres slightly raising the car. There are no post-race ride-height checks.

iRacing’s top split Special Events race do not typically feature live stewarding – an often-debated absence. Nim Cross’s appearance to effectively end Redline’s race is an unprecedented move.

Redline, which was streaming to the event from its perspective, with Verstappen expected as co-host, however, the broadcast was cut short and removed from its Twitch channel. 

Neither iRacing nor Redline have moved to comment further, with the race still running to its conclusion at the time of publication, and the sim racing community seems to be divided about both the alleged tactic and the purported disqualification.