The race report of the sixth Challenge: Monza

In Formula 1, a points win by Nico Hülkenberg in Monza would already have been a success for German motorsport. Things went much better on the traditional Italian circuit for the Munich-based Lounge in our Championship, which also took place in the Royal Park last weekend. No less than three simracing drivers were on the podium. The race victory was secured by Czech pro Michal Smidl ahead of the two Germans Florian Hasse and Angelo Michel.

It was a turbulent race with lead changes in almost every lap. At first it did not look like the Munich Lounge was going to celebrate a triple victory. Dominik Dedic, who drives one of the Kemptthal simulators, led the race for a long time. In the end, he had to let Alejandro Sanchez and Smidl go. The latter collided with the Croatian in the meantime through no fault of his own, who then received a penalty and thus also lost his third place at the green table.

Sanchez, who lost the Racer League lead to Smidl only at the last race in Zurich, had to take a shortcut in the turmoil at the second chicane, did not give back a place and was also penalised by the stewards.

Because the field crossed the finish line so close together (the first 10 riders were separated by less than 12 seconds!), the Madrilenian even tumbled off the podium. The beneficiaries were the Munich riders Smidl, Hasse and Michel. "At the beginning I wanted to take it easy and make use of the opportunities. By the turn of the day, I was already in second place," Smidl summarised. "Unfortunately, there was then the contact with Dominik, for which I could not do anything."

The Czech used almost all of his Push2Pass activations already in the first half of the race. "It was incredibly busy and there were some slower riders in front of me that I wanted to pass quickly. But next time I'd better not press the Push2Pass button like a madman in order to have some later," smiles the simracer from Team Redline, for which Formula 1 high-flyer Max Verstappen also starts.

With this victory, the three-time RU champion extends the recently won lead in the championship to 17 points. Behind him lurk Sanchez and Michel. After the success in Monza, Smidl is also the first driver in the championship to win two consecutive races.

No driver has managed to do the same in the Challenger League. The class with driver assistance was also turbulent - and thus all drivers on the podium benefited from penalties against the drivers in front of them.

The German Heyder brothers were actually in control of the action after a great start phase, but fought each other so much that Agustin Torlaschi from the Madrid lounge was able to catch up and overtake.
Thanks to penalties against Torlaschi, Lorenzo Heyder and Adrian Gomez, Joshua Heyder (1st), Janik Pletscher (2nd) and the Spanish streamer Borja Zazo (3rd) finally made it onto the podium.
Heyder rewards himself with this victory for a great start (after two turns he jumped from 14th to 6th place) and a very thoughtful and fast driving style.
For Pletscher, too, these 18 points are an extreme success. After his early start in Zurich, he was suspended for the KnockOut Qualifying in Monza and had to start the race from last place, while his great competitor Nico Fahland had the chance to plough through the field.
The German then started the race from ninth place, but collected only one point due to a 10-second penalty and loses the Challenger League lead back to Pletscher.

The next championship races are scheduled for the last weekend in September (29/30/09, Circuit de Catalunya). If you would like to be part of the Challenger League, you can find all the information on the Racing Unleashed website.

Top 3 Racer League

1st Michal Smidl - 96 points
2nd Alejandro Sanchez - 79 points
3rd Angelo Michel - 60 points

Top 3 Challenger League

1st Janik Pletscher - 90 points
2nd Nico Fahland - 83 points
3rd Marcos Valverde - 65 points