Esports News | Mitchell dominates GT Pro Round 4

It was the Sandy Mitchell show, as the K-Pax Racing driver scored a grand slam of pole position, fastest lap, and leading every lap in the Lamborghini, assisted by some turn one chaos behind him.

That saw the two lead Audis of Alex Aka (Attempto) and Adam Eteki (Boutsen VDS) collide, taking out all three of the front-running BMWs in the process – including the gold class-leading Team WRT car of Calan Williams. Mitchell was pursued throughout by Laurin Heinrich (Rutronik), with second place enough to see the team hold a four-point advantage over K-Pax with one round remaining.

Charlie Fagg (Optimum) inherited the gold class lead courtesy of Eteki’s penalty for the first turn incident, but nearly missed out after going unchallenged all race long. A pit stop glitch seemed to show he hadn’t taken the mandatory litre of fuel – later cleared by the stewards – and a late race collision with the recovering Daniel Harper (Rowe) meant he’d end just two seconds clear of a stunning recovery drive from Williams.

The Silver class leader Cesar Gazeau (Boutsen VDS) had a far more comfortable race, claiming class victory by more than 25 seconds from Daniele di Amato (Dinamic GT Huber), following a 15-second penalty for points leader Alexey Nesov (Madpanda).

Fanatec Esports GT Pro Round 4 Results

1. Sandy Mitchell (K-Pax – Lamborghini Huracan GT3) – 31 laps
2. Laurin Heinrich (Rutronik – Porsche 911 GT3R) +5.534
3. Ayhancan Guven (Dinamic GT Huber – Porsche 911 GT3R) +23.316

Next was the turn of the sim racers in the SRO Esports Sim Pro series, and a return to the top step for Lamborghini’s David Tonizza.

Tonizza would qualify second behind Jordan Sherratt – both nearly a second quicker than the pro drivers in the previous event – and while Sherratt would hold a slim advantage early in the race, a slow pit stop combined with the overcut allowed both Tonizza and Nils Naujoks past.

Sherratt, who’d drawn two blanks in the last two races, would rather sportingly allow his team-mate Chris Harteveld to make a late pass, with a podium enough to keep the Dutch driver in the championship top three.

It was a bad day for all of the leading Mercedes runners – Tinko van der Velde the highest-placed in 11^th. Just 11 points now separate the top six with one round remaining.

SRO Esports Sim Pro Round 4 Results

1. David Tonizza (Lamborghini – Lamborghini Huracan GT3) – 31 laps
2. Nils Naujoks (BS+COMPETITION – BMW M4 GT3) +1.257
3. Chris Harteveld (Ferrari – Ferrari 296 GT3) +12.157

Dario Iemmulo has won the final of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe event, also held live at the Nürburgring this weekend, and with it the chance to represent the brand in major esports events in 2024 alongside David Tonizza.

Iemmulo only qualified eighth for the first race but made his way up to fourth – helped by pole position driver Michael Romagnoli spearing off at turn one and retiring with a blown engine. Maciej Malinowski inherited the lead and looked close to losing it.

However, Iemmulo lined up ahead of all of his rivals for race two, sitting behind Nikodem Sobczyk and – once again – Romagnoli. An incredible start from the Italian saw him drive right between the front two as they defended outside and inside respectively and take the lead.

Malinowski could still take the title on points, though the stewards issued the Polish driver with a ten-second penalty for an unseen incident on lap one involving Sobczyk and Romagnoli. While he’d finish third, that dropped to fifth with the penalty accounted for, as race-winner Iemmulo claimed the title by two points.

Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe Final Results

1. Dario Iemmulo – 16 laps
2. Nikodem Sobczyk +7.512
3. Michael Romagnoli +10.091

Maximilian Benecke and Porsche Coanda have come away from a special, one-off ESL R1 tournament held in Riyadh as driver and team champions, scooping $100,000 (£76,000) and $250,000 (£195,000) respectively.

Joshua Rogers (Coanda) and Kevin Siggy (Redline) were the form drivers of the group stage, blitzing their groups with two wins from two, with Marcell Csincsik (R8G), James Baldwin (Mercedes), Dayne Warren (Coanda) and Jeffrey Reitveld (Redline) also taking group wins.

Rogers was also first to collect enough points to enter “finalist mode” – requiring one more win to take the title – but his form gave out at just the wrong time as he qualified poorly at Monza. Rietveld and Benecke (Mouz) seized the chance to score the points required for finalist mode too.

The three qualified together in the final race, but a collision between Rietveld and Rogers as they battled through the Mercedes Arena saw both drop out of contention, allowing Benecke to cruise to victory.

ESL R1 Gamers8 Drivers Final Results

1. Maximilian Benecke (Mouz – Audi R8 GT3 Evo) – 8 laps
2. Kevin Siggy (Redline – BMW M4 GT3) +3.199
3. Jiri Toman (R8G – Audi R8 GT3 Evo) +5.188

Only six teams could qualify for the second day of the teams’ event, and Redline was the first of those to cross the 150-point threshold required for finalist mode. Erhan Jajovski (R8G) though was impossible to crack at Monza, and with Rogers claiming second place his Coanda team also reached finalist mode.

Rogers was in no mood to see a second chance at a title go to waste, and placed his Porsche on pole at Spa, fending off an early challenge from Jajovski to take an ultimately comfortable win.

ESL R1 Gamers8 Teams Final Results

1. Joshua Rogers (Coanda – Porsche 911 GT3 R) – 7 laps
2. Erhan Jajovski (R8G – Audi R8 GT3 Evo) +2.409
3. Enzo Bonito (Redline – BMW M4 GT3) +2.945