In sport, there are moments in a season when things just don’t work out, while they do just fine for one’s rivals. David Tonizza and the entire FDA Esports Team would be happy never to see the Nurburgring again! This week, the German track just did not sit well with the Maranello group. After failing to score in the GT World Challenge Esports Endurance Cup a few days ago, on Friday 24 September the track was again the venue, this time for the Sprint Cup and it proved to be just as inauspicious. However, David Tonizza has not lost heart and he can count on the support of a well prepared team and most importantly, he still leads the championship with three races remaining.
Qualifying. Even in qualifying, things did not go too well as the championship leader could do no better than tenth, beaten by team-mate Giovanni De Salvo who is having a strong season so far. The main title rival, McLaren Shadow’s James Baldwin was an excellent third.
Race. Once again it was the first corner on the first lap at the Eifel track that did the damage for “Tonzilla.” He was involved in an accident with Arthur Kammerer (BMW Sim Racing G2 Esports), Robbie Stapleford (Zansho Sim Sport), Dominik Blajer (DV1 Triton Racing) and Leon Otocki (Unicorns of Love). This dropped the FDA Esports driver down to 21st and last, but he tried to fight back. His attempt was frustrated by Nicolas Hillebrand (HPD JAS Pro Europe) who pushed the Ferrari 488 GT3 EVO 2020 off into the grass, so that David lost another seven places. Tonizza tried again but his pace was slowed because of damage to the car so that he finished 21st right behind Aenore Rose in the Jean Alesi Esports Academy Ferrari and just four places ahead of Matteo Blotto, the other driver in the French former F1 star’s team. Saving the day for the FDA Esports Team was Giovanni De Salvo who managed to make up three places to finish sixth.
Standings. Benefiting massively from Tonizza’s misfortunes was Baldwin who came third in the race won by Nils Naujoks (BMW Sim Racing G2 Esports) reducing the gap to David to just 6 points, 108 to 114. “Tonzilla” however is not the sort to give up, something he demonstrated in the year in which he won the F1 Esports Series in 2019, showing he could deal with the pressure. The next race takes place on 15 October at Imola, a track the FDA Esport Team driver knows well and on which he will try and extend his championship lead.