You can say that the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe started this Saturday (17) with sim racing, or at least the teams championship, as the Fanatec ESports GT Pro Series distributed the first points for the real world competition in Assetto Corsa Competizione, with Arthur Rougier putting Emil Frey Racing on top after a ferocious battle with AKKA-ASP’s Daniel Juncadella.
The Mercedes AMG GT3 army was strongly in front, with Daniel Juncadella leading the field from the start, but Arthur Rougier mugged the top spot from the Spaniard at the home straight, although a bunch of contacts and spins changed the shape of the table severely, with Ezequiel Companc jumping to second ahead of Juncadella.
The major problem was in the Monza chicanes, as judging braking distance proved to be leading to avoidable crashes, even at the top of the field, with only the top four escaping unscathed from the mayhem, with Companc losing his battle with Nicklas Nielsen for third place, while Athur Rougier and Daniel Juncadella were in their particular battle for the lead. The position change also affected the Silver Cup slightly, with leader Ezequiel Companc struggling to hold Ryuichiro Tomita while he could, eventually leaving the door open for the Japanese driver.
Juncadella needed some good minutes behind Rougier to go past him, but it wasn’t like Juncadella had room to breathe, as the AKKA-ASP driver still had the No. 114 Emil Frey Lamborghini in his mirrors. Behind them, while Tomita slid into the overall podium despite being a Silver Cup entry, Nicklas Nielsen was determined to make it an all-Pro Cup podium again by bravely overtaking the WRT driver.
At the final third of racing, Juncadella was struggling with Rougier’s pressure, which eventually led to the AKKA-ASP Mercedes to lose in the straight line drag race to the Emil Frey Lamborghini, but the Spaniard kept a close sight of the Frenchman in hopes of finding a gap to pass again. Juncadella tried to close in but he only lost contact to Rougier, who only had to keep it clean to bring triumph for the No. 114 Emil Frey Lamborghini, while the No. 88 AKKA-ASP Mercedes had to settle for second from nearly 3 seconds behind.
Fanatec ESports GT Pro Series - Race results
Ryuichiro Tomita secured the Silver Cup win with the No. 31 WRT Audi, eventually contesting for the overall podium as he left the No. 90 Madpanda Mercedes behind despite the early fight between them.
The next round will be during the Paul Ricard 1000 weekend, with the top three of each class carrying a success ballast to the round at the virtual version of the Le Castellet circuit.
IMAGE: Gary Parravani/Xynamic
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