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Maximilian Benecke proved he doesn’t need Red Bull Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen as his co-driver to win VCO ProSim Championship Races, as he and replacement partner Lorenzo Colombo took victory at Suzuka.
Verstappen and top iRacing driver Benecke won the first race of the season at Motegi for Team Redline, with Formula Renault Eurocup driver Colombo stepping in for the second round at Bathurst as Verstappen was racing in Bahrain.
The Championship Races are conducted with a two-driver relay format in the previous generation Dallara Formula 3 cars, with drivers finding out the tracks a matter of minutes before the actual race.
Having only been on iRacing for a year, Colombo starred in this week’s race at Suzuka, taking the first stint.
Red Bull Esports team driver Laurin Heinrich used a massive tow to overtake Colombo into the final chicane (below) at the end of a bizarre first lap which took out many cars in the field through unusual incidents.
Those affected included round two winners at Bathurst, Joshua Rogers and Ayhancan Guven, who were involved in a multi-car shunt at the Snake curves in the first sector.
With Heinrich in sight holding a small advantage, IndyCar driver Sage Karam put Colombo under constant pressure albeit failing to force an error or slipstream past before the pitstop phase as the top three ran line astern.
Colombo pitted on lap 10 which released Karam into clean air, but Heinrich set the fastest lap of the race on his in-lap to edge an advantage and hand his car over to Graham Carroll.
In a double blow for Karam – with Mack Bakkum now taking over their Coanda Simsport car – Colombo’s undercut worked and kept his co-driver Benecke ahead, while Bakkum began to fall back.
On lap 13, Carroll was also on the way backwards as Benecke reeled him in and made a decisive move into Turn 1 to take the lead.
Carroll initially stuck to Benecke’s coattails as the two edged away from the pack following the stops, while it was all change behind once the sim racers hopped aboard.
Sebastian Job – taking over from Red Bull team-mate Philip Eng – stormed up to third place.
A late stop for the SimRC Raoul Hyman car taken over by Felix Luding and the Patrik Holzmann-driven entry started by Alexey Nesov both jumped Bakkum to seal the top five.
However, despite missing out on a win, the Red Bull teams refused to go unnoticed and just inside the last 10 minutes Holzmann slipped past Luding to make it a Red Bull two-three-four.
That wasn’t the end of the drama though as Luding retook the place when Job (below) pitted with just under five minutes to go.
It was for a penalty attributed to a collision in qualifying involving his co-driver, Eng, by the commentary team.
To add insult to injury Job set the fastest lap on the last tour of the race but could only manage 11th.
Eyeing the second place Job vacated, Holzmann lit up the timing screens but the gap was over three seconds and he didn’t have time to reel Carroll in.
Benecke finished two seconds clear of Carroll to take the $1000 race-win prize he’ll split with Colombo.
Behind Holzman, Luding, Bakkum and Kronke rounded out the top five.
New iRacing car gets a high-profile outing
The Fun Race feature the highest profile appearance yet of the new iRacing single-seater designed by Dallara, with the sim stars only taking part.
With it being so new, many of the sim racers were caught out by the tail-happy car around the classic Spa circuit, but not Holzmann.
He leapt down the inside and into the lead at La Source on lap one, and, despite a late resurgence from Job, remained comfortable to take victory.
Benecke was second at the end of the first lap but struggled to come to terms with the new car and spun at Bruxelles on the second tour.
Job worked his way to second and set the fastest lap in the second half of the 20-minute event but couldn’t get within a second of Holzmann to challenge.
Maarten van Loozenoord sealed the podium after passing polesitter Carroll.
The next VCO ProSim Series event takes place on January 2.
