until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
Edge Esports’ Petar Brljak won the sixth round of the Formula SimRacing World Championship after a blistering final stint on the soft tyres which moved him up from fourth to first.
He qualified in seventh position, but was in fifth place after the first few corners of the Silverstone circuit.
After the first round of pitstops, he jumped polesitter Tom Satherley as Satherley went longer on his first set of tyres to carry out a one-stop strategy, whilst most of the grid pitted twice.
With 14 laps to go everyone had completed their pit stops, but a longer second stint from Brljak meant he could run to the chequered flag on the softs whereas the three ahead of him were on either the medium or hard compound tyres.
Tyre choice proved to be critical as leader Muhammed Patel, on the hards, was caught up by Michi Hoyer on the mediums.
Hoyer caught up and pulled alongside Patel around Stowe corner, but on the exit of Vale the two locked wheels which caused Patel to spin and drop to fourth.
With three laps to go Brljak cut down his seven-second deficit to the leading two of Hoyer and Dawid Mroczek.
DRS aided moves into Brooklands and Stowe put Brljak ahead of two drivers on medium compound tyres and gave him the race lead on the penultimate lap.
Hoyer finished in second, but a final lap overtake down the Hangar straight on Mroczek gave Patel the final podium position.
Janos Bracsok was the highest finishing driver to pull off a one-stop strategy as he saw the chequered flag in seventh place.
Tom Satherley, who qualified on pole position and was also carrying out a one-stop strategy, was running in ninth place before retiring with an engine failure with eight laps to go.
Championship leader Jernej Simoncic had an uncharacteristically poor qualifying performance as he started the race in 11th, but gained three positions over the course of the 52 lap race to finish eighth.
Simoncic still has the championship lead, albeit with his points advantage cut to 22 points.
Brljak, who recently joined Williams Esports, is second the championship and is 17 points ahead of third-placed Hoyer.
The next round of the FSR World Championship will take place on June 21 with the German Grand Prix around the Nurburgring circuit.
