Team Redline sweeps class wins in IMSA Esports Global Championship Round 2 at Watkins Glen

A week removed from almost sweeping the opening round at Road Atlanta, Team Redline did just that for the second round of the 2023 IMSA Esports Global Championship, winning in both GTP and GTD classes at Watkins Glen International on Sunday. Both the #71 BMW M Team Redline GTP of Diogo Pinto and Chris Lulham and #170 Team Redline Ferrari GTD of Gianni Vecchio and Ole Steinbraten started second in their respective classes, and both were able to take the lead and avoid calamity and penalties in order to take the wins.

46 teams of two drivers took to the grid across those two classes for two hours and 40 minutes of racing in the series backed by IMSA, VCO, and Michelin.The GTP pole position belonged to the #89 BMW M Team BS+COMPETITION, with Niklas Beu setting the lap time and substitute Nathan Lewis joining him. In GTD, the #143 Altus Esports Porsche, qualified by Jordan Caruso with Dino Lombardi co-driving, took the top spot.

Up front, the GTP class got away mostly clean, but the #89 incurred a 10-second penalty off the start that would be accounted for post-race. That didn’t deter the Zebras, as they led for the majority of the first half of the event. The GTD start, on the other hand, saw a large incident between Turns 1 and 2. Many hopefuls, including the #116 Puresims Esports BMW, the #120 Dörr Esports Porsche, and the #103 Grid-and-Go.com eSports Lamborghini, received required repairs right away.

Just up ahead, the GTP class would lose one of their hopefuls in the #11 Williams Esports BMW, as the Inner Loop, also known as the “Bus Stop,” claimed its first victim among the wonky curbs that each team takes aggressively to gain time. Through the event, the Bus Stop claimed hopefuls such as the #92 VRS Coanda Porsche, the #18 WAVE ITALY Racing Team Porsche, the #95 XSET Cadillac, and this week’s Wildcard entry, the #17 Texaco Racing by TK BMW.

BMW M Team Redline’s #71 GTP took the lead for the first time at Lap 25 when the #89 pitted for their first stop. Through the first cycle, the #89 managed to get back to the lead, but on the second, the #71 capitalized on the overcut and took control, never looking back for the rest of the day. Their #170 GTD counterparts had taken control from the #143 team on the third lap, and they never looked back from there, leading through each cycle and through to the checkers.

The tighter battles were for the runner-up position in each respective class. After the #95 XSET team crashed out of second place and the #89 BMW M BS+COMPETITION team had fallen out of contention, the #4 CrowdStrike Racing Acura, driven by Samuel Michaels and substitute driver Sacha Gorlé, found themselves in the spot. Opening round winners Daniel Alves Lourenco and Dominik Hofmann, in the #90 URANO eSports Datagroup BMW, were in hot pursuit of the spot, looking to add a few more points to their tally to lessen the gap to the #71, but the #4 held on for second place.

Meanwhile, the GTD podium changed a few times in the closing laps. The #143 Porsche was fading fast, and there to take advantage were the other opening round class winners, the #101 Mercedes-AMG Apex Racing Team duo of Alejandro Sánchez and Luke McKeown. McKeown made easy work to get around Lombardi. In fact, the #143 fell to eventually finish sixth, as the #190 Mercedes-AMG URANO eSports entry of Luca Kita and Alexey Nesov managed to get by for a podium finish, as did the #114 Simufy eSports Porsche for fourth and the #196 BS+TURNER BMW for fifth.

IMSA Esports Global Championship GTP results from Race #2 at Watkins Glen were as follows:

IMSA Esports Global Championship GTD results from Race #2 at Watkins Glen were as follows:

Each class has a maximum of 385 points available per race, with 350 going to the class winners and an additional 35 points for the top qualifying team. Both Team Redline winners scored 382 points for winning from the second starting spot, leaving Watkins Glen as their respective class leaders as well.

Both winners from the first round at Road Atlanta, the #90 GTP and the #101 GTD, left Watkins Glen second in points after scoring podiums despite poor starting spots. The #90 GTP is 24 points behind the #71 and the #101 GTD is only eight points behind the #170 with two races remaining.

IMSA Esports Global Championship GTP points through Round 2 are as follows:

1. #71 BMW M Team Redline, 714
2. #90 URANO eSports Datagroup, 690
3. #4 CrowdStrike Racing #4, 590
4. #43 Altus Esports, 575
5. #99 Apex Racing Team, 531

IMSA Esports Global Championship GTD points through Round 2 are as follows:

1. #170 Team Redline, 734
2. #101 Mercedes-AMG Team ART, 722
3. #190 Mercedes-AMG URANO eSports, 601
4. #199 Apex Racing Team, 583
5. #196 BS+TURNER, 549

The IMSA Esports Global Championship will take two weeks off and return on December 3 for Round 3 at Sebring International Raceway. Another new venue to the series will test these drivers for two hours and 40 minutes of racing around the bumpy 17-turn, 3.71-mile mixed-pavement venue.

Each race of the IMSA Esports Global Championship will be broadcasted live on IMSA’s and iRacing’s YouTube, Facebook and Twitch social media channels with the “Countdown to Green” pre-race show beginning at 1:45PM ET.

For more information on the IMSA Esports Global Championship, visit iracing.com/imsa-esports. For more information about the Virtual Competition Organisation (VCO), visit vco-esports.com. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit iracing.com.

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