The V10 R-League finally got underway yesterday and it didn’t disappoint!
The inaugural round of the first season took place at Monza, with the V10 cars producing some thrilling action at the Temple of Speed.
Every tie was hotly contested, with some teams only narrowly coming out on top. There were some clean sweeps by other teams, but who impressed the most and who underperformed?
Winner: Williams
It’s only one round, but Williams has established themselves as real contenders for the title come the end of the season.
Williams were drawn against Racing Point for Monza and they completed a clean sweep, beating RP 3-0.
Kuba Brzeziński was arguably the most impressive driver yesterday for Williams. The Pole won his head-to-head sprint against Lucas Blakeley before contact with the Brit decided the relay race in Williams’ favour.
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Brzezinski also avoided the chaos around him to go from 6th to 1st in the team race and preserve Williams’ clean sheet. Martin Štefanko and Michael Romanidis were also on top form, it was a complete team performance.
Loser: Racing Point
It’s hard to sugarcoat a 3-0 loss and Racing Point will be licking their wounds after a poor day at the office. Williams were on top form though, any of the other six teams would’ve struggled to get much out of this tie.
The only highlight of their head-to-head bouts was the final race, in which Shanaka Clay acquitted himself well during a feisty affair. Lucas Blakeley’s contact with Brzezinski proved to be the deciding factor in the relay race.
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Blakeley did redeem himself in the team’s race though, but it wasn’t a good performance by the team. It ended up being a 1-2-4 for Williams, nearly a perfect score.
Winner: Porsche24 RedLine
RedLine are one of the oldest names in esports, and their experience showed as their Porsche partnership got off to the perfect start. Porsche faced BMW and it was nip and tuck throughout.
Despite losing the first head-to-head, Porsche came back to win 2-1, thanks in part to Atze Kerkhof’s unbelievable pace. The relay race was again close, but Ben Cornett triumphed for Porsche.
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The Team’s race also went Porsche’s way, Michal Smidl winning the race to give Porsche a narrow 15-11 victory. Kerkhof set some of the fastest laps of Monza we’ve ever seen, so he was the star for Porsche.
Loser: BMW
Just like Racing Point, BMW got off to the worst possible start in the V10 R-League. The German team faced tough opposition in Porsche, but they’ll be very disappointed not to get off the mark.
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Cem Bolukbasi was expected to be one of the stars of this series, but the Turk is taking his time to get up to speed. Kevin Siggy showed real pace at times but lacked the consistency to bring home the points.
It was only a narrow loss in the team’s race (15-11) and the head-to-head (2-1). Coque Lopez should’ve won the sprint race series in BMW’s favour as well, but his spin at Ascari proved decisive.
Winner: Yas Heat
Yas Heat may have narrowly lost their contest with Jean Alesi Suzuki, but they can hold their heads up high. Heat were always close to Suzuki and managed to score a point on their first ever sim racing event.
Eamon Murphy lost a close contest to De Salvo in their head-to-head and Simone Fedele won his head-to-head only to be penalised post-race. Had things gone slightly differently, Heat could’ve taken a 1-0 lead.
Heat crossed the line first in the relay race, but another penalty cost them dearly, this time for Murphy speeding in the pit-lane.
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Andrea Capoccia helped win Heat’s first point in the series though, coming first in the team’s race despite constant pressure.
If Heat iron out their mistakes, they’ll be a real threat for next week’s race at Brands Hatch!
Next Round
Round 2 of the V10 R-League will be held on 14 September at 7pm BST around Brands Hatch.
The entire Season 1 of V10 R-League will be shown on BT Sport 2 in the UK.
Those in the US can watch on ESPN3, while in the Middle East it will be available on STARZPLAY Arabia.
The post V10 R-League Winners and Losers: Round 1 – Monza, Williams & Porsche excel as BMW & Racing Point falter appeared first on RealSport.
Ernestina Saenz Salcido is a reporter for News Lair. She mostly writes on her free time about gadgets and tech news. When she’s not working she takes care of her 2 daughters.
