The All-Star ESports Battle and Veloce ESports Pro Series got going for the third weekend along with F1 having Challenge Lando.
Continuing for the third weekend running, both All-star ESports battle and Veloce ESports’ respective sim races returned to fill the real-world racing void which has befallen fans as a result of the ever-disruptive COVID-19 pandemic.
Both events were modified slightly, with Veloce changing their series from the ‘Not the…’ F1 race to the Pro series (given that no Grand Prix was scheduled for this weekend in the first place), and All-Star ESports Battle adding a ‘Legends Trophy’ for retired drivers.
All-Star ESports Battle:
Starting with the Legends Trophy in All-Star ESports Battle, Dario Franchitti won the event, ahead of Darren Turner, Adrian Fernandez, David Brabham, Emanuele Pirro in the Top 5 after Juan Pablo Montoya took pole on the rFactor game.
Montoya did not have the best of outings to finish only 10th behind Jan Magnussen who was sixth from Tiago Montiero, Max Papis and Tony Kanaan. On the other hand, it was Bono Huis who took the win in the main All-Star ESports Battle.
Huis did so against a field of drivers which included Rudy Van Buren, Ed Jones, Stoffel Vandoorne, Phillip Eng, James Davison, Esteban Gutierrez, Maximilian Gunther, and countless others. It was Wisniewski on pole position for the race, though.
But in the early stages, he was under pressure from van Buren and Huis. The Dutchman managed to get on top of the battle for second, but after his contact with pole-sitter Wisniewski, it sent him into a spin as van Buren inherited first position.
Later, Huis pressured van Buren and took the lead after a battle between the two. The Dutchman slipped back into the clutches of Yuri Kasdrop, getting caught in a battle with him. It helped Huis ahead as he took the win eventually.
Van Buren came out on top of his battle with Kadorp, with James Baldwin fourth, who was overtaken by Kevin Siggy and Kasdorp early on in the race. DTM racer Eng was fifth as despite the earlier spin, Wisniewski managed to slice his way back through the field and take sixth.
He had Petar Brljak behind in seventh with DTM racer Dani Juncadella was eighth ahead of DTM’s Jones and Formula E’s Vandoorne in the Top 10. Gutierrez, meanwhile, was 13th with Formula E’s Gunther in 16th.
Here’s the full video of how All-Star ESports Battle panned out:
Veloce ESports Pro Series:
Veloce ESports Pro Series race was run – unlike in past times – on iRacing, and also unlike times before, this race was run with Supercars, rather than F1 cars. The race featured drivers like Lando Norris, Nicholas Latifi, Vandoorne, Antonio Felix da Costa, Helio Castroneves, Esteban Gutierrez, Sean Gelael, Ed Jones, Benjamin Daly, James Davidson, Nick Cassidy, Arjun Maini , Louis Deletraz, Luca Ghiotto and Juan Manuel Correa.
Norris led from pole into turn one at Silverstone, ahead of Fenestraz and Jones. Towards the middle of the pack, though, it was far more chaotic, with a pile-up already on the pit straight involving Gelael, and many others.
After an excellent start, Gutierrez lost all the ground he gained, and dropped back to tenth from starting eighth. Even after this, though, it wasn’t easy for the Mercedes reserve, as he got involved in a thrilling three-car battle with Ghiotto and Bolukbasi.
Other epic battles raged on up and down the grid, but at the front Norris retained a commanding lead, and was not threatened. Meanwhile, Jones disconnected and Vandoorne continued to battle for 10th. Ultimately, the McLaren F1 racer won the race with an 11-second lead over Baldwin and Fenestraz, who rounded out the podium.
Fourth place was occupied by Deletraz, who finished one place ahead of Ryan Tveter, and two places ahead of Bolukbasi. F2 driver Ghiotto finished seventh, leading fellow real-world driver Gutierrez, Kodric, and Ticknell.
Vandoorne – who came out on the losing end of that tenth place battle – finished 11th from Maini, while Super Formula’s Nick Cassidy was 13th. For Race two, Tincknell was on pole due to the reverse Top 10 order, and he led for the first several laps.
Meanwhile, Fenestraz came up from eighth and powered through the field to second in just one lap. Norris also followed the Frenchman through the pack, and soon the Brit was in fourth. Shortly after disposing of Deletraz and taking third, he was on the hunt for second.
Making up yet another position, Norris passed Fenestraz and began his chase of Kodric. However, it wasn’t meant to be for the British driver, as he stayed in second and finished just behind Kodric. The Frenchman was fourth ahead of Deletraz, Bolukbasi and da Costa.
Returning after disconnecting in race one, Jones came seventh, beating out Tveter, Baldwin, and Tincknell – who rounded out the Top 10. Vandoorne dropped from his race one result and finished 13th behind Fittipaldi. Gutierrez once again involved himself in numerous incidents, and as a result he finished in 16th position, one position ahead of Latifi.
Challenge Lando:
With no actual F1 race, they put Norris in a ‘Challenge Lando’ ESports event where he had four challenges to get through. He faced golfer Ian Poulter in Challenge 1, followed by Ferrari junior Dino Begonavic in second and Eng in third – all won by the British racer.
The fourth challenge was him to race 19 F1 fans chosen randomly where they all raced in the 1988 McLaren at Suzuka. Norris had to complete certain challenges to win more points but several mistakes meant, he was a lap down in 16th.
Here’s the full video link of Challenge Lando: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g1EwMxqKpc
Here’s what happened in All-Star ESports Battle and Veloce Pro Series Week 2
Here’s how MotoGP Virtual Race went
Here’s how IndyCar Challenge went
The story was edited by Darshan Chokhani