The Final round of The Endurance Cup, Season 2 is fast approaching and with the round being the longest yet of the season, it will certainly be the biggest challenge yet for all the teams involved.
The Track
The final round of the Endurance Cup will take place at the Silverstone circuit, located in Northamptonshire, United Kingdom. The track is 5.9 km long and has 18 turns, characterised by the three main straights giving the track the classic triangular layout. Many drivers and viewers love this circuit due to its fast flowing corners and its old school design with grass and gravel traps all around to catch you out if mistakes are made. All of this is sure to culminate in the final round of The Sim Grid Endurance Cup being one not to miss.
The Top Teams
Although the circuit and weekend format sets the stage for a great race, the true entertainers of the day are the drivers. The Endurance Cup has seen a season of unpredictability and excitement the whole way through. So much so, that there have been four different winners in four rounds leading to the final race being the true decider for the championship win. Each of the top three teams sat down with us at The Sim Grid to shine a light on how their season has gone and what they expect from the final round.
YAS HEAT
This season’s top contenders, coming into the final round with the most points in the series, is YAS HEAT. One of the team’s drivers, Andrea Capoccia, gave us the breakdown of their season and what they look to achieve from the final round.
Firstly looking at the season as a whole it had not been an easy ride for the team with unfortunate incidents facing them in the first two rounds. Despite these incidents, the team kept their head down and pushed hard when it counted, giving them the most podiums of any team so far. Capoccia stated that “the team’s most defining moment of the season was seen at Paul Ricard. This race was certainly a strong point for the team as despite not being in the best car for the race”.
Not only this but the team has also been handed some unfortunate penalties, but as the rain began to fall, the team managed to execute a great strategy. This led to the team taking the second spot of the podium, cementing their lead in the championship.
When discussing with Capoccia what the team expects to be their biggest challenge in the final round, he stated that “the team’s challenge will be centred around making sure they have got the car ready for whatever conditions Silverstone will throw at the car”.
When looking at the competitors, Capoccia sees the biggest threat to their championship is likely going to be the GTWR Simulator Giantruck team. Capoccia expects GTWR to push them the hardest as they are immediately below them in the championship and as hungry as YAS HEAT for the series win. Also, the YAS HEAT team members know how good GTWR can be all too well, as many of the current drivers started their sim careers with this team so know the level at which the team can perform. This competition is something Capoccia relishes so much so he says that GTWR “are the biggest fear of the team but also the team they want to beat the most”.
Looking to the future, the team is looking to enter into the highly anticipated Sim Grid World Cup. Capoccia expects this to be one of the most important events of the sim racing season as with all Sim Grid events it attracts the biggest and best names in sim racing. As well as this Capoccia anticipates the exposure the Sim Grid World Cup will be second to none as the 24 Hours of Spa round reached a total of 68,000 viewers and this coming season is sure to be the same.
GTWR Simulator Giantruck
In a close second place has been the GTWR Simulator Giantruck Lamborghini. The team got the season off to the perfect start with two podiums in the first two races but an unfortunate round three and four slipped them back to second place in the championship. This is sure to make the team hungry to regain that top spot. Giorgio Simonini broke down how the season has been for the team and what they hope to achieve in the final round.
Simonini described the team’s season so far to be one of highs and lows with the start of the season going as they wanted but the latter half becoming difficult. Much of the issues centred around the teams choice of the Lamborghini Huracan EVO, known for its narrow operating window. Simonini highlighted the team’s issues by saying “when the conditions are perfect the car is great but the changeable conditions gave the team a number of issues”.
With this in mind, Simonini and the team have taken a bigger focus on the setup for the Silverstone round as with a longer race comes a higher chance of changeable conditions. The team’s main aim for the final race is to focus on consistency and make sure that maximise the points against their championship rivals first and not just focus solely on the race win. As with their rivals, the team they see as their biggest rival is the former teammates over at the YAS HEAT team as they know just how well they can perform.
Looking to the future the team also has its eyes set on the World Cup series. Simonini also remarked “the World Cup brings the best of the best” for drivers in ACC and the extremely professional nature of the racing series makes the series “exciting and an honour to compete for the win”. The race they most look forward to is the 24hr of Spa as the previous season was such a special event for the team and they hope to continue their great record at this track.
Jean Alesi Esports Academy
Sitting in third place in the championship is the Jean Alesi Esports Academy team who have made their Sim Grid debut in the Endurance Cup series this year. With this has come lots of ups and downs but their raw pace has come through in the ends to put them within reaching distance of a championship win. Danilo Santoro was able to give the low down on the teams first seasons and the lessons they have learnt.
Santoro stated that the season has been a challenging one for the team coming into a series with such high levels of competition. Despite this, the team was still able to secure a win at Paul Ricard by what Santoro said was “executing their strategy exactly as planned, capitalising on the changing conditions”. Santoro also noted this was helped greatly by Aston Martin’s great performance in all conditions over its competitors. The win was one that was cherished by the team as they had lost out on a win in the first race of the season due to an unfortunate collision with a backmarker in the closing stages at Catalunya.
Santoro highlighted that the main focus for the team in the final round has been making sure they maximise their opportunity in qualifying to keep themselves out of early race incidents. Santoro also noted they are focusing on going for the win to give them the best chance of outscoring the other teams and winning the championship. As the team is currently in third Santoro highlighted that both teams in the top two will be a great threat to their championship hopes but know they can beat them if all goes well for the team.
Looking to the future Santoro remarked that “the team hopes to take the lessons learnt from the season and apply those to future racing series”. The Endurance cup has been a great entrance to the Sim Grid for the team and they hope to keep up the pace they have started off with.
Racing at the Sim Grid
As can be seen, the Endurance cup has attracted some of the highest skilled and most professional teams seen across Assetto Corsa Competizione. Entering a series and committing their time and talent is not one that the teams take lightly.
With this, the teams gave some of their reasons as to why they chose the Sim Grid to show their talent and fight for the series wins. All the teams have remarked that the Sim Grid has become one of the biggest race organizers in the ACC community and has attracted the biggest and best teams around. Due to the extremely competitive nature of the series, it makes every win one to be proud of, showing they can compete and win at the highest level sim racing. Not only this but The Sim Grid has been able to give the teams the ability to show of their skills to thousands of viewers with every season bringing in thousands of viewers no matter what event is taking place. All of the teams see this as a great value proposition as it has given them the opportunity to show what they can do as teams and drivers to as many racing fans as possible.
So as can be expected the final round of The Sim Grid Endurance Cup is one not to miss. All the teams are focusing their time and efforts to make sure they take the top spot of the series and can call themselves champions. Tune into The Sim Grid YouTube channel on the 6th of March at 2 pm GMT to see the best drivers in ACC fight it out for the Endurance Cup series crown.
If you have ever considered racing at a competitive level but are new to the sport then The Sim Grid also has many series for you. All the events at The Sim Grid are organised with the same professional outlook providing all racers no matter their skill level with the opportunity to learn in the best possible environment. If you have a passion for racing and you want to pit yourself against the best then get a setup for your favourite car at Coach Dave Academy and get yourself signed up to The Sim Grid.
