The SRO Esports season got off to the best possible start for the Ferrari Driver Academy Esports Team in yesterday’s sprint race using the Monza layout: David Tonizza won the race while, in the other Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020, Giovanni De Salvo finished fourth after fighting tooth and nail throughout the one hour race.
Tonzilla the star. David Tonizza set out his stall right from qualifying, taking pole position. He did not get a perfect start to the Grand Prix, the Italian being passed by Kevin Siggy (Team Redline) and Josh Rogers (VRS Coanda Simsport). However, “Tonzilla” never lost touch with the two leaders and did a fantastic job in the chaos on lap 8, when Rogers attacked Siggy at the Parabolica. Both of them ran slightly wide and David got alongside on the inside. They then ran three-wide down the main straight and at the first chicane, the Ferrari driver managed to take the lead, going from third to first in true world champion style.
Pugnacious De Salvo. Once in the lead, “Tonzilla” comfortably controlled the race, while a bit further back Giovanni De Salvo in the second FDA Esports Team car was engaged in a race-long battle. His start was pretty poor as he dropped from third to ninth, but he gradually made up places, passing Nils Naujoks (BMW Motorsport Sim Racing G2 Esports), James Baldwin (McLaren Shadow) and Eamon Murphy (Yas Heat) to go sixth. After the pit stop, De Salvo found himself behind Naujoks, but he passed Siggy with a few laps remaining and benefited from the Drive Through penalty handed to Amir Hosseini (Hosseini Sim) to finish fourth. In the Jean Alesi Esports Academy Ferrari, Luca Losio finished 13th. The FDA Esports Team was the highest scoring team overall which is a good omen for today’s Endurance race.
Three hours. The race distance, again set in Monza will be 180 minutes, with Tonizza and De Salvo taking turns at the wheel of the number 51 Ferrari. Qualifying is at 16.15, while the race will be streamed from 17 on the SRO GT World YouTube platform. Apart from the FDA Esports Team, there are three other Ferraris taking part the number 27 of Jean Alesi Esports Academy driven by Pawlowski-Santoro; SideMax Motorworks 97 car with Van der Velde-Kreuzer and Kessel Racing by Racing Line car number 192 for Blotto-Onorati.