Season opener: Spaniards dominate both leagues
Madrid as fourth Racing Lounge
The Competition of Racing Unleashed kicked off on the track in Zandvoort: For the first time, the competition was not only held at the three Swiss locations in Kemptthal, Cham and Zurich, but also in the Spanish capital Madrid. And Spanish pilots promptly dominated both the Racer League and the Challenger League.
In the Racer League without driving aids, Alvaro Aznar celebrated a flawless start-finish victory. Nevertheless, even the Spaniard could not afford to make any mistakes, because his lead over Dominic Dedic was only four seconds at the end. There was no room for any of the numerous spins that the 19 drivers in the field allowed themselves.
Aznar on his victory, which earned him prize money of 2500 Swiss francs (2284 euros).
Chaos behind Aznar
Several collisions shook up the field. Dedic thus moved up from fifth on the grid to second place - and kept it until the end. "I saw a gap on the outside and then passed. I was surprised that it worked out so well," the Swiss described the start phase. Enrique Maranon climbed onto the podium in third place.
The next race on 30 May - then on the track in Barcelona - will show how good the Spaniards really are. Then defending champion Michal Smidl from the Czech Republic will also be in the mix again.
The Challenger League is also dominated by the Spaniards
In the Challenger League, three compatriots - Néstor Garcia, Javier Loro and Maracos Valverde - stood on the podium in the opening race at the Zandvoort circuit.
Garcia started the race from pole position. But at the start Glen Teufen pulled past the rookie. "I had little traction at the start, so it was not easy," Garcia explained. But Teufen's lead didn't last long: he spun off the track on the first lap and dropped back.
This put Garcia back in front. "But it was not easy to keep Javier Loro behind me," he describes. Because his compatriot was stuck in his rear. He only fell back due to two driving mistakes (one when lapping) and was even 16 seconds behind in the end. Loro: "There are no blue flags here, so lapping was difficult."
Garcia can now look forward to 25 points for the overall ranking and 300 Swiss francs (274 euros) prize money for the victory. Why did the Spaniards do so well in the opener? "We are a motorsport nation and we love SimRacing. I think that's one of the reasons," Garcia explains.
Hardcore Racing
Although in the Challenger League the drivers drive the RU21, which is modelled on Formula 1, in mode two and can therefore rely on driving aids such as traction control and ABS, there were numerous spins and collisions. The race stewards handed out more than a handful of penalties. This shows: Racing Unleashed is a tough racing competition.