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McLaren Formula 1 driver Lando Norris has inherited a maiden win in Team Redline’s ‘Real Racers Never Quit’ series, after a post-race penalty for Ayhancan Guven.
Norris has emerged as a regular frontrunner in the pro driver iRacing series, yet only finished on the podium in two races of the eight held prior to Wednesday’s fifth round, which was held in BMW M8 GTE cars on Interlagos.
The McLaren racer qualified second to F1 rival and series leader Max Verstappen for both races, but while he followed Verstappen home in the first race, a PC crash for the Dutchman handed Norris a prime opportunity to grab a maiden win.
However, Norris came under severe pressure from Porsche Supercup runner-up Guven during the race, and on the ninth lap of 12 Guven completed a controversial move for the lead.
After Norris had blocked the inside line all throughout the lap, Guven nudged him out of the way at Bico de Pato, executing a NASCAR-style ‘bump-and-run’.
He went on to take the chequered flag from there, despite Norris’ subsequent attempts to retake the spot.
But having held off Dennis Marschall for second place on the road, Norris has now been promoted to first place in the classification, as announced by Team Redline on Thursday.
He thus replaces Guven as the third different race winner in the series, with Verstappen having taken six wins and Kelvin van der Linde managing three.
Some good news for @landonorris
He might be LOSING all his hair🧑🏻🦲, but a penalty for @AyhancanGuven means he is the WINNER of last night’s Race 2 🙌#RealRacersNeverQuit #teamredline pic.twitter.com/hpBFo3FKoE
— Team Redline (@TeamRedlineSim) April 2, 2020
Redline’s announcement makes reference to the fact Norris will steam his head being shaved on Thursday, as a consequence of him having helped raise over $12,000 for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund during Twitch’s Stream Aid last week.
‘Real Racers Never Quit’ will resume on Friday, with two races held in yet-to-be-determined machinery.
