The Sim Grid’s highly popular More Female Racers series by Thrustmaster made it’s way to Circuit Zandvoort this week for round two, and with all still to play for and teams looking to step up their championship campaign, it was bound to produce another incredible race.
This week, it was Mia and Aenore Rose from Jean Alesi E-Sports Academy who were on the front foot after their victory at Misano, so were on the hunt to convert yet another race into victory. As Mia Rose took pole position for the second time this season, the pressure was on to deliver.
Zandvoort’s Pro class podium
Jean Alesi E-Sports Academy took their second victory of season two of More Female Racers, giving them a twenty point lead in the Pro class standings and another victory to their names. However, after a perfect qualifying, the race wasn’t quite so clear-cut to be in their favour.
As the pack roared into turn one, Mia kept their Mercedes AMG Evo in the prime position, but by the second lap, Timea Bencsik in TheHungarians Ferrari had snatched the lead from her grasp after a small mistake in the second sector.
By the time the pitstops rolled around, they were just inches apart, but as they had left the pitlane, Aenore Rose, who was now at the helm of the Jean Alesi E-Sports Academy machine, emerged ahead. Aenore said in an interview that the key to this was simply “Mia’s perfect stop” but from that point onwards, she showed she had the upper hand over their rival, and managed to keep Adam Pinczes at arm’s length for the remainder of the race.
Taking up second place on the podium was the team who marginally lost out to Jean Alesi E-Sports Academy – TheHunagrians Ferrari in the hands of Timea Bencsik and Adam Pinczes. As previously mentioned, they were right in contention for victory as they led the way for the first half of the race, but under pitstops the route to victory became blurred, as they were jumped and were put back to second position.
Nevertheless, they showed themselves to be a possible title contender and proved their pace last week was no fluke. However, one difference from last week was Timea’s qualifying, as she improved by an entire eight positions, just like she said she had hoped for after last week’s race.
The final podium position was taken by the GTWR Female Racing 3 Lamborghini in the hands of Sara Dove and Thibaud Propst.
The GTWR duo started fourth on grid, just behind the stand out Pro-AM performer of the Map1 Racing McLaren, and after battling hard to make their way past, they were released to hunt down the top two. However, neither driver could quite close down the gap ahead, but soon the gap behind was to be crucial. In the last five minutes, they were handed a fifteen second time penalty for an earlier incident, and with a fourteen second gap behind, it was a race between Propst and Sheldon Muscat in the GT Omega X Pro Sim Tech Mercedes for third, with Propst coming out on top by just seven tenths of a second, as Propst exclaimed that they were “quite pleased” to see that they keep their hard-fought podium.
Pro-AM’s victorious teams
The Pro-AM class also saw a repeat winner at Zandvort, as Map1 Racing in their McLaren 720s put in an outstanding performance to convincingly win their class. Just like last week, they seemed to be right on the pace of the Pro class teams, and after Aloo Gobi put the car in third place overall, all eyes were on them to see how they would perform. They really came into their own and faired remarkably well amongst Pro teams, as they crossed the line to extend their championship lead to eighteen points.
In second place this week was the Star Girl Racing Ferrari, with Verena Mei and Gregor Schill at the wheel. They had another great race despite the madness of the Pro-AM runners and Zandvoort not being either of their favorite tracks.
In the first stint Mei did a solid job to keep the car right in contention for a strong result, and as she entered the pits fifth in class, Schill looked to repeat the style of performance he put in last week where he rocketed through the pack to leave their already respectable position behind them. Schill pulled off exactly the same thing as last week, as he rose to second in class via some brilliant pace and race-craft.
Taking third place in Pro-AM was the Team Edison Mercedes, which was driven by Victoria Thomson and Maryn Edwards. Maryn was in the car first, and had a pretty exciting stint as she battled for sixth in class, but it was by the second stint that the team’s race really picked up. In the pits they gained time and throughout the second stint, Victoria put in an absolutely stellar drive to fight her way through the Pro-AM drivers and cement third in class.
The forefront of Zandvoort’s action
Although More Female Racer’s field is always full of action and overtakes, the heart of the excitement was to be found in the Pro-AM class. With Pro-AM being even closer than the Pro class, there was literally a fight at every corner.
One of the teams who were right in and amongst the Pro-AM action was last week’s second place sitting BSKIT Motorsport MFR Nissan, who had an immense first stint, gaining five positions in the hands of Jenny Camugli. They were looking to take another brilliant result, but were struck by a thirty-second stop and go penalty for speeding in the pitlane, sending their podium hopes spiralling downwards.
Despite a tough qualifying session, Jenny said that she “was quite confident for the race, as I spent a lot of time tweaking the setup” – a setup that was also praised by her teammate, Declan Bowler. She also explained how well Delcan did in the action to get home in one piece “despite the damage I inflicted on the poor car”. Although the outcome of the race wasn’t exaclty what they were set up for, they can still take a lot of positives from Zandvoort, and certainly are a team to keep an eye on.
Another of Zandvoort’s most eye-catching performers was the #66 Heck 1 Flexus Lexus. They, just like the BSKIT Motorsport Nissan, were right amongst the heart of the field’s battles, especially during Selene Witcher’s early stint.
Selene engaged in battles with multiple rivals as she fought for second in class, putting on an incredible show until she was set back by an incident with the Team J Bentley. She said that “unfortuanately for me, the extra ten metres or whatever it was I thought I had, wasn’t enough”, but “the stint went well until the last few laps”.
Seb Handler had a much quieter stint though, despite having incredible pace. After getting caught up in an incident when being lapped, he did a great job to get the car home.
What to expect next round
For the third round of More Female Racers by Thrustmaster, the teams are heading to Monza, the temple of speed. Monza always produces great races and is a track that is very popular among drivers, so they will be more fired up to race than ever. Until then, The Sim Grid will have a short Christmas break for the drivers to recharge and enjoy the holiday season, so round three will take place on the 11th of January.
In the meantime, make sure to check out our title sponsor Thrustmaster and use the ‘TMMFR15’ promo code for fifteen percent off on their eShop.
