The race report of the fourth Challenge: Imola

"It was like salvation!" After crossing the finish line, Angelo Michel's emotions burst out. The man from Bernbeuren has won the fourth round of the Racer League season as part of the Racing Unleashed Championship 2023. The pilots of the Racer and Challenger League were racing on the virtual course in Imola this weekend.

Michel already laid the foundation for the victory in the KnockOut Qualifying. There he fought his way up from midfield to second place. At the start of the main race, he attacked immediately and overtook pole setter Alvaro Aznar. "I got away well and was able to pull away from Alvaro directly," he said.

After a few laps, however, three-time champion Michal Smidl appeared in his rearview mirror. "By then I was nervous when I saw that he was able to reduce the gap. I tried to save my Push2Pass activations until lap 15 to have enough power on the straights in the crucial laps. That worked out well." In addition to the 25 points, Michel also dusts off a sporting prize money of 3,500 Swiss francs.

Like Michel, Smidl pilots one of the 80,000-euro simulators at the Racing Unleashed lounge in Munich, which any motorsport fan can try out outside of racing hours when visiting Motorworld. The Czech sat just a few metres away from Michel as his simulator neighbour, but is only partly satisfied with second place. "The result is no reason to get emotional. It was okay. I just did the best job possible."

Thus, Smidl, who is used to success, continues to wait for victory number one this season. In the championship, however, he was able to make up some points on the leader. Alejandro Sanchez, who even started in front of his rival, collided and then had to clean up the field from the back.

Despite the high performance density, the Madrilenian still managed to move up to eighth place. However, his lead over Smidl, who now ranks second, has melted to 13 points. Michel (18 points behind) was able to make a leap from eleven to three with the success.

For the Munich-based Lounge, it was the first win at the fourth round of the season. Also joining in the celebrations was Dave Gaming, Germany's top simracing streamer who provides live commentary on the Racer and Challenger League races and was on hand at the Munich Lounge on Saturday. "Maybe I was the lucky charm today," grinned the content creator.

Another man who found himself on the Munich podium again this weekend was Nico Fahland, who finished third in the Challengers for the third time in a row. The race win went to Marcos Valverde ahead of Janik Pletscher, who extended his lead in the championship.

The next races of the Racer and Challenger League will take place on 28/29 July. For the simracing stars, it's off to the self-made Zurich Airport course developed by Racing Unleashed.

Top 3 Racer League

1st Alejandro Sanchez - 59 points

2nd Michal Smidl - 46 points

3rd Angelo Michel - 41 points

Top 3 Challenger League

1st Janik Pletscher - 71 points

2nd Nico Fahland - 57 points

3rd Marcos Valverde - 51 points