Esports News | Mutch leads British F4 at Knockhill

Qualifying saw the Scottish driver prevail in a tight session where the top four were covered by less than a tenth, with reigning champion Luke McKeown second, ahead of Moreno Sirica, and Stanley Deslandes. Berryman could only place seventh.

That rapidly became fourth for the championship leader after an unusual early-race incident. An error from Alexander Davidson through the chicane brought himself, Deslandes, and Remy Gilbert onto the same patch of track, with Gilbert tagging Deslandes into Taylor’s. The spinning Deslandes collected Davidson and Jack Lad, with Berryman slipping up the inside of the mayhem to seize fourth.

Indeed the chicane was proving problematic for several drivers. McKeown was the next to be caught out, surrendering second to Sirica, before team-mate Berryman himself also caught the gravel on exit to re-enter a battle with Ted Bradbury, and the recovering Gilbert, Davidson, Sirica, and Lad all at once.

That left Mutch all but unchallenged at the front as he’d eventually stroll to a seven-second win from McKeown, while Berryman regained his composure to execute an excellent overtake on Sirica at McIntyre to regain an eventually comfortable third.

British F4 Esports Round 6 Race 1 Results:

1 – Gordie Mutch (JHR by 29 Esports) - FIA F4 - 26 laps
2 – Luke McKeown (Stormforce by ART) - FIA F4 - +6.762s
3 – Peter Berryman (Stormforce by ART) - FIA F4 - +13.120s

Despite being the best-placed of the title contender in the reverse-grid race, Berryman almost came a cropper immediately in having to take to the run-off the Duffus after clashing wheels with Bradbury.

Behind him though, Mutch was on the move. After beating McKeown off the line he was soon onto the back of Bradbury and past. What had been a two-second gap to Berryman soon evaporated as Mutch passed his rival at Taylor’s and set off after Sirica and new race leader Lucas Muller – aided by the scrap between the front two.

Muller proved a tough nut to crack, backing Mutch up into McKeown, Sirica, and Bradbury to set up a stellar final five minutes with the top five running sometimes three-wide. Mutch would finally hit the front with two laps to go, in a pass on McKeown that lasted half a lap, to eventually ease home by two seconds.

In what’s now looking like a three-horse race, Mutch has a 17-point lead over Berryman, with McKeown two points further back. With its drivers now second and third, the Stormforce by ART team has an 89-point lead over JHR by 29 Esports.

British F4 Esports Round 6 Race 2 Results:

1 – Gordie Mutch (JHR by 29 Esports) - FIA F4 - 26 laps
2 – Luke McKeown (Stormforce by ART) - FIA F4 - +2.172s
3 – Moreno Sirica (Williams Esports) - FIA F4 - +2.286s

With many esports series coming to a close over the next few weeks, one of the biggest is set to start up soon: F1 Esports.

Although no official announcement has yet been made, the team reveal for the Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing outfit this week let slip that the reworked series – rebranded as “F1 Sim Racing” – will get underway with a first-round live event on Friday November 24.

The “silly season” has already been in full swing, with driver line-ups for several teams now confirmed. Defending champion McLaren retains its 2023 winner Lucas Blakeley, with Dani Moreno returning from Mercedes and Wilson Hughes graduating from the McLaren Shadow Academy.

Deposed champions Red Bull will once again field its perpetual runner-up Frede Rasmussen, with Josh Idowu and Sebastian Job both moving up from the AlphaTauri team. They’ll fill the gap left by long-time Red Bull driver Marcel Kiefer, who’s moved to Mercedes to join 2021/22 champion Jarno Opmeer and Dani Bereznay.

Ferrari’s had a shake-up with the departure of both its world champion drivers, David Tonizza and Brendon Leigh. The team has brought in ace qualifier Nicolas Longuet and Bari Broumand – who helped McLaren to the 2022 title – alongside newcomer Jonathan Riley, winner of the 2022 Ferrari Esports Series.

Leigh will be moving to Alfa Romeo, where he’ll join 2022’s surprise package Thomas Ronhaar who has joined from Haas along with his team-mate Matthijs van Erven. AlphaTauri, Aston Martin, Haas, and Williams have yet to reveal their squads.

The 2023-24 iteration of the Logitech McLaren G Challenge also gets underway this month, with the first qualification stage already available to players worldwide.

For this season the event will be hosted on the recently launched Forza Motorsport. There’ll be three stages, each requiring players to set the fastest times that they can on an initial qualifier in-game in a special “Rivals” mode over a period of 4-5 weeks. The first stage is open now, and runs through to December 14.

Following the qualifiers, the top 15-16 in each stage advance to a regional final to be held in late February and early March to crown a winner in each of the four regions: Europe, North America, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific.

There’s $100,000 (£82,000) of prizes available, including random draws among all entrants in the qualifiers. The grand prize for each of the regional winners will consist of a VIP McLaren Racing Experience, a meet and greet with F1 racer Lando Norris, and attendance at an F1 race on the 2024 calendar.