Having finished fifth in the inaugural SRO E-Sport GT Series, David Perel finished in the same place in the third round of the virtual race series, which was run on the Nürburgring layout, which also meant he was the best placed 488 GT3 driver.
Perel looks convincing. The Rinaldi Racing driver started from 13th on the grid and it just before the 30 minute mark that he made his move, with a series of overtakes, the last on Marcucci in the Audi on lap 15. Once again, the South African put in very consistent lap times to close on the leaders, but the gap that had grown in the first part of the race was too big to shut down. The opening lap was run against the backdrop of a fine sunset over the 5 km German track and it had a significant impact on the race for the other Ferraris taking part, especially after qualifying had yet again left them having to start from the middle of the grid.
Multiple collisions. The tricky first corner at the Nürburgring caught out the unwary with several collisions, resulting in all sorts of damage, so that some of the Ferraris had to pit for repairs. These included the 488 GT3 of Daniel Serra and Nicolas Hillebrand (Buttler-Pal Motorsport). “There’s not much to say,” commented the Brazilian. “There were a lot of accidents at the first few corners and my car was badly damaged, so I had to pit, which cost me a lap, so I retired.” The Brazilian was classified 30th while the German managed to get back up to 24th. Similar difficulties befell Nicklas Nielsen, who was 21st past the chequered flag and had this to say about his struggles. “Once again the opening lap was really chaotic with cars going off the track and others coming back on having made a mistake. It was also a problem at Spa, but there’s not much you can do about it. The most important thing is to have improved compared to the previous weekend and the aim for the next one is to start from further up the grid and avoid these situations. All the same, it was a positive event and good fun.” It was a weekend to forget for Miguel Molina, immediately eliminated from the race. "My race didn't last very long," said the Spaniard, "and it ended on the first lap. Qualifying was not good and so I was forced to start from the back but the first lap was disastrous, with a lot of drivers involved in accidents. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time". In the pack. After finishing 12th in the previous round, Maksim Yefanov crossed the line 17th in the Fasttuning 488 GT3, not far off a group of driver tucked in behind the top ten. Also affected by early collisions were David Fumanelli (Kessel Racing), 27th and Chris Froggatt (Sky Tempesta Racing,) 29th. The race was won by Ben Barnicoat on McLaren.
Silver. At the end of a rain affected race, the two FDA Hublot Team Ferraris finished the planned 60 minutes with David Tonizza sixth and Enzo Bonito 27th.
Next rounds. After the back-to-back races of Spa and Nurburgring, the SRO E-Sport GT Series will be back in action on 31 May at Spain’s Barcelona circuit. VISIT FDA HUBLOT ESPORTS WEBSITE