Co-written by Grant Campbell and James Bowers
The Sim Grid x VCO World Cup headed to Belgium for round two of the season, with 24 hours of the glorious Spa-Francorchamps circuit lying in wait for some of the greatest sim racing teams on the planet. Like the real Spa 24 Hours, this event was always going to be one of the highlights of the series, and it didn’t disappoint. With double points on offer, the incentive to win was higher than ever, as was the incentive to simply cross the finish line. Here’s how the race panned out.
Podium Finishers
| Team | Position |
| #41 LADA Sport ROSNEFT | 1st |
| #14 Unicorns of Love | 2nd |
| #191 Racing Line Motorsport | 3rd |
1st: #41 LADA Sport ROSNEFT
The number #41 LADA Sport ROSNEFT Aston Martin came home to take the win after a gruelling 24-hour race, characterised by the bad weather and changeable conditions
The team started the race off well in the podium spots, fighting for the lead with the #164 GTWR R8G Academy and #211 SideMax Motorworks Aston Martins. This battle continued for many hours with the cars swapping positions as the pitstop phases occurred.
As the middle of the race approached, the LADA Sport ROSNEFT team certainly seemed to have some of the best pace in the wet and changeable conditions that plagued the race. This allowed them to keep a commanding grasp on the top spot, as the team’s main rivals, the #164 GTWR R8G Academy car, lost their lead through the night. This promoted the team to second place and gave them a chance at grabbing the top spot.
The team took this hunger and carried it through the rest of the night, but as the conditions dried up, the team got caught out on a drying track with overheating tyres. Eventually, the team pit onto a dry set of tyres, but this was to no avail as the #211 SideMax Motorworks team began to pull a gap out in the lead.
However, in the closing hours, the #211 Aston seemed to have the win in the bag, but a disconnect occurred and this promoted the #41 LADA Sport ROSNEFT into the lead. In the last thirty minutes, the team pushed hard as the rain fell and in the end came home with the top spot.
The #41 LADA Sport ROSNEFT put in an astonishingly consistent drive always staying in contention through all conditions. This consistency is what gave them the win and is exactly what endurance racing is all about.
2nd: #14 Unicorns of Love
The team that came home to take the second podium spot was the #14 Unicorns of Love Aston Martin. The team had an overall great race, just missing out on an opportunity to fight for the lead in the closing hours.
The team had a good start, batling in the top five for the first few hours, matching the pace of the leaders and keeping themselves in contention for the top spot. However, in hour four, a tough battle with the #211 SideMax Motorworks ended in the #14 car rear-ending the #211. This led to the team receiving a fifteen-second penalty that had to be served at the next pitstop
This dropped the #14 Unicorns of Love team back down the grid, but their overall pace made kept them climbing back towards the top five spots. As the rain began to fall, the #14 Unicorns of Love team began to make progress, reaching a peak of third in this portion of the race.
With the track beginning to dry the #14 Unicorns of Love began to have the pace advantage. This ultimately led to the #14 car taking the third spot and pulling a gap over the Racing Line Motorsport car. This pass became crucial, as it allowed the #14 Unicorns of Love to push ahead and attempt to regain the lead lap.
During this push, the #211 SideMax Motorworks team disconnected and promoted the #14 Unicorns of Love to second. There wasn’t quite enough time left for the team to catch the leaders, it was a great drive after the unfortunate penalty early on in the race for the #14 Unicorns of Love.
3rd: #191 Racing Line Motorsport
The final podium spot was won by the #191 Racing Line Motorsport Aston Martin who put on a show for us all, battling hard throughout the whole race.
The start of the race was one that seemed to be going the #191 team’s way, running in the top five and looking like they had the pace to stick with the lead group. However, in the third hour of the race, an unfortunate incident into Pouhon led to the #191 car hitting the wall and incurring a vast amount of damage.
This incident led to the #191 Racing Line Motorsport team falling right back down to nearly the back of the field, looking as if points would be unlikely. However, the team kept a brave face and continued on to see what they could make of the twenty-two hours left to go.
Over the coming hours, they had exceptional pace in the wet conditions, climbing through the field at a rate of knots. The team got themselves back into contention with the top five and continued to push.
During the final phase of the race, the #191 Racing Line Motorsport team continued with this exceptional pace, putting their car back into the top three. From here on out the team held their own and the disconnect from car #211 led to the #191 Racing Line Motorsport taking the final podium spot
What the winners had to say
After the race, the #41 LADA Sport ROSNEFT crew were delighted with the victory, but as Denis Grabovskii went on to explain, they had mixed feelings about the way it happened.
“I was really sad because Maciej [Malinowski] was doing a really good job,” he said. “It’s kind of sad to win like this, but a win is a win.”
That said, the team certainly had to work hard for this. Having started down in ninth, it had been a superb effort by the Russian squad to overhaul nearly everyone in front of them, and despite the tragic circumstances that snatched victory away from SideMax Motorworks, it would be wrong to suggest that LADA Sport Rosneft were any less deserving of the win.
As Grabovskii revealed, the Aston Martin was a delight to drive throughout the race, which in turn allowed him and his teammates to perform at their best.
“Our car was really great in damp and dry conditions,” he beamed. “But then when it rained hard, that wasn’t great for us, especially as we hadn’t hit the sweet spot with our tyre pressures.
“Overall though, the car was great, even if we only mastered the set-up one day before [the race]!”
For Grabovskii, this win was particularly enjoyable, as until recently he didn’t think he would even be taking part at all.
“A few weeks ago, I didn’t think that I would drive here, so thanks to the guys for inviting me,” he said. “And thank you as well to The Sim Grid for organising the event, and of course, to the viewers!”
It was fan-favourite Egor Ogorodnikov who had the final word though. The Russian had put on a typically aggressive display behind the wheel, particularly when hunting down the early race leader, Andrea Miatto in the #164 GTWR Vantage.
“We’re very glad to take first place in the championship,” he said. “We did not expect the result! We will have 44kg of [success] ballast in the next round, but we will try our best and see how it goes.”
The Aston Martin Advantage
As soon as qualifying came to an end, it became apparent that the Aston Martin Vantages were the cars to be in. As a result of the season-long Balance of Performance measures put into place for this series, the ‘torquey’ Vantage’s qualities were able to shine bright at the high-speed Belgian circuit – a venue it is already strong at.
Given how evenly-matched these drivers are, it was always going to be a tough task to breach the Aston Martin stranglehold of this race. In that regard, things went as expected, with the Warwickshire-built GT car staking claim to the top eight positions.
However, in the quest to be the best of the rest though, the #22 McLaren 720s of Rocket Simsport triumphed. In the hands of Ross McGregor, the iconic colours of Team Rocket RJN came home in ninth position – the only non-Vantage in the top eleven. However, the #22 didn’t have it all their way in this race. This was a valiant effort from the McLaren crew who had qualified way down in 26th position.
In the early stages, the #91 GTWR R8G Academy Ferrari took that mantle, running as high as fourth position in the opening hours. But, foreshadowing what was to come, later on, a disconnection from the server ended the #91’s race prematurely. With that, the #62 BMW G2 Esports entry was left to fight against the Vantages, but in reality, they would be more preoccupied with the #32 GTWR Ferrari instead. Eventually, though, the pair of them would drop back, as different strategies played out.
Meanwhile, the #22 crew had quietly but quickly been working their way up the order, and by the seventeenth hour, had risen as high as eighth. From then on, they would largely be uncontested by anyone without the wings of Aston Martin emblazoned upon the front of their car, whereas the midfield battle behind them raged on throughout the night and into the morning.
The #28 Audi R8 of WPS Racing Team came closest to knocking Rocket Simsport off of their perch. It seemed #28 crew had been ahead of the #22 entry earlier in the evening, but the pace of the R8 gradually began to fall away, leaving them vulnerable to the onrushing pack behind. With the WPS car acting as somewhat of a roadblock, a train of four cars bunched together, resulting in a fierce tussle between the recovering #62 BMW and #194 Racing Line Motorsport Bentley. Soon enough, the G2 Esports squad would get the better of not only the Bentley but the WPS Audi too, before scampering away into the distance.
However, later on in the race, a succession of penalties would demote the #62 BMW back down towards the bottom of the top twenty again. The #28 Audi couldn’t match the speed of the #194 Bentley either, and as a result, would engage in battle with the #32 Ferrari which struck trouble overnight despite having looked very competitive up until that point.
This meant that the #194 Racing Line Bentley would power on to take second place in the ‘non-Vantage’ division. A top ten wasn’t quite achievable on this occasion, but the #194 would at least get to round out their race with a good battle against the #38 Aston Martin of Dalking Community. The #38 had been one of the most entertaining entries to watch in the latter stages of the race, as team-leader Darren King fought hard to recover as many positions as possible.
After an attempted move at Les Combes, King tried to pass the Bentley again at the bus-stop chicane. The #194 team was having none of it though, resulting in nearly half a lap of side-by-side action. Eventually, Racing Line Motorsport had to concede during the following tour of Pouhon corner, but it had nonetheless been a great overall race performance against the Balance of Performance odds.
Fear not though, as the success ballast rule means that there shouldn’t be quite such an Aston advantage in round three.
Who missed out?
The biggest disappointment of the race has to be with the #211 SideMax Motorworks team. The #211 team had taken a commanding lead over the field in the second half of the race pulling a gap and lapping multiple of their competitors in the top five.
However, as the final hour approached the team disconnected from the race with only thirty minutes remaining. The team took some time to reconnect to the race leaving them down in fourteenth where they ultimately finished the race. One small consolidation to this was that the team took the Qallo Iron Man Award with the most laps led. The team led the race for an astonishing total of 289 laps before disaster struck.
Another team that expected to be on good for was the previous season’s champions, the #157 GTWR R8G Academy Audi. The #157 are a team you can never count out of a race no matter the series. They have shown their pace across multiple Sim Grid championships always in the top spots and often the team to beat.
Today, however, was not their day. They started the race with multiple unfortunate incidents not allowing them to make the progress up the field they so desperately needed. As the race settled the team began to gain some of their usual pace back but this wasn’t to last. In the phase of the race, multiple accidents and spins led to all the progress becoming undone.
From here on out, they just couldn’t catch back up to the top contenders they reached the bottom half of the top ten spots at times but never made it any further. The team came home to finish in sixteenth. One benefit of this is going into the next round they won’t have any success ballast so can give it their all and will surely be back fighting for the win.
What’s next for the Sim Grid x VCO World Cup
The Sim Grid x VCO World Cup Thrustmaster Spa 24hr as expected was a dramatic race, flipping the championship standings on their head. This race had a completely different look to the top spots, with last round’s top contenders down in the midfield, showing that one race in this varied series doesn’t set the trend.
As with the first round, the top fifteen teams will be subject to success ballast to ensure a competitive balance between all the team. As the Astons dominated at Spa many are now subject to this ballast and Donington will not be a favourable track for them all, even before the ballast. Expect cars such as the Mclarens to make good headway in the next race as many have no ballast and are hungry to make up for the Aston domination at Spa.
As always, if you have ever wanted to take part in such an event then get yourself signed up for The Sim Grid and join some of the best drivers in ACC across the globe in a host of events for all levels of drivers. To ensure that your experience is as seamless as possible, why not try out the VPN of choice at The Sim Grid, ExpressVPN, that ensures the best connection possible whilst racing on the track.
To close out, if you’re looking for that little extra edge over the competition on track then head over to Coach Dave Academy and get yourself a race-winning setup designed by professional drivers and engineers for all your favourite cars in ACC.
