The third season of The Sim Grid Endurance Cup by Thrustmaster started with a bang at Hungary with enough action to keep us hooked for a month! In a true battle of grit and wheel to wheel fights, Odox Motorsport emerged victorious in a hotly contested battle for P1. There were a few surprises along the way, and the story unfolded as the race progressed over at Hungaroring. Twelve manufacturers took part with Ferrari looking the strongest. However, the 50 kilos of added ballast as BOP made things highly unpredictable for the Italian manufacturers.
Qualifying
Probably the biggest surprise of the day, the Nissan of Virtual Drivers by TX3 #333 were incredibly quick throughout the session and went the quickest at the start. That pole was pretty short-lived as the Lexus of Team Fordzilla Lexus #66 soon beat the time with just 13 minutes to go. The Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo of YAS HEAT #149 went the quickest shortly after with a stunning lap of 1:42.387, and that was the time to beat. However, with clouds starting to appear in the sky, conditions could change, and the time looked increasingly difficult to beat. Thankfully, the conditions remained calm, and somehow, the #149 went even quicker with a 1:42.324!
GTWR Racing Team #32 set their fastest lap just 0.354 seconds behind P1, making it a Ferrari 1-2 with only 3 minutes to go. However, the more significant news was that just one second covered the top 30 teams to set their laps. The Bentley of Zansho Rocket Simsport #26 had the best effort of the closing minutes to climb to P12 from P26 with just under a minute to go.
Just when the grid was all but complete, the Audi R8 of Odox Motorsport, with an impressive last lap, claimed the second front row spot, just 0.33 seconds behind YAS HEAT. The Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo of Griphax Engineering similarly claimed P3, making it three different manufacturers in the top 3. Moreover, the cars from P2 to P7 were separated by less than half a tenth.
The Podium Stars
Odox Motorsport looked to hit the ground running this season after their 10th place standings finish in the 2nd season of the Endurance Cup, with just one podium to their name at Barcelona. This time, the #122 team looked to be on charge right from the start at P2. The YAS HEAT#149 did manage to keep the charging Audi at bay but soon went into tyre management mode, most probably, allowing the #122 to catch up to within 0.5 seconds of the leader. It was evident that the Ferraris were struggling with ballast issues as Odox Motorsport almost overtook #149 because of the BOP weighing them down. The team pit at Lap 35 and a few laps later were 6 seconds ahead of the Griphax Engineering #11(podium runners at the time) and YAS HEAT #149. The gap eventually increased to 7.6 seconds with the Ferrari team P2 and was almost 10 seconds by the time the race ended. All in all, it was a dominant display from A. Garcia and Odox Motorsport to comfortable claim the top step of the podium at Hungary.
Similarly, YAS HEAT #149 also had a great day, even if they didn’t seal the top spot with an excellent start to the race and a gap of 0.5 seconds right off the bat. However, the ballast issues were evident, and Odox Motorsport almost overtook them because of the BOP weighing them down. There was a particularly nervy moment for #149 at Lap 27, almost losing out to #122, but the Ferrari managed to hold on to P1, fending off Odox Motorsport for just a little bit longer. But sadly, all their efforts came undone when the #11 of Griphax Engineering ended up turning YAS HEAT around, which allowed #122 to take the lead. As a mark of respect, the Mercedes let the Ferrari pass through to regain its position. That move was short-lived as the #11 eventually overtook the YAS HEAT car anyway at Turn 13 in a while. This caused the team to dive into the pits, but the battle for the victory was lost at that point, and the team spent the rest of the race playing catchup and finally finished P2, a good result nonetheless.
The last podium finisher was the hugely impressive AMR V8 Vantage of LADA Sport ROSNEFT #41. The journey upwards started when the Russian team overtook the Lexus of SFR Italia right at Turn 1 and started hunting down the pack at the front (quite literally). The chase intensified when Nissan of Virtualdrivers by TX3 began dropping off, allowing the Vantage to close in. Maybe LADA Sport got too excited after a few laps, causing the GTWR Racing Team to spin, but they did give the position back and started hunting the Ferrari once again. They eventually got the move done on the #32 car at the chicane, and their dedication was rewarded with a neat P3.
The Stand-Outs
One of the most prominent performers at Hungary were GC – Racing and Friends #411. The BMW M6 GT3 had a fairytale race and was one of the only two BMWs on the grid. Having qualified a lowly P34, no one would have expected the team to finish P7. They displayed some choice overtakes, particularly on #367, which also caused them to almost DNF, spun by the Ferrari of #68, but they managed to save it. With less than an hour to go, GC – Racing and Friends were sitting in P9, but that just seemed to motivate them further, and before long, #411 made its way to P7 after some gritty scraps with #35 of Kings of Asphalt. Probably, the biggest highlight of their race would be the team racing in the podium places midway through the race, regardless of how short-lived the stint was.
Team Fordzilla Lexus #66 was another team that refused to give up, and they were rightly rewarded for their troubles. The Lexus RC F GT3 came a full circle, qualifying P6 and finishing P6 as well. They had a few repeated battles with #333 and #32 throughout the race. They finally got the move done on the Nissan at Lap 17 and shortly spun out just a few laps later, thanks to a rear-end punt from #106 of Omega E-Racing, who were further dashed by the #404 of H3 Racing. This caused them to drop all the way from P6 to P15. A little session of recovery driving allowed them to gain back up to P10 but once again had to earn their spot as they spun out after being crunched in a tight space. However, going into fightback mode once again resulted in Team Fordzilla Lexus finishing P6, ending a pretty eventful race for them.
Many predicted right at the start that Virtualdrivers by TX3 #333 could be dark horses at the Hungaroring, and the suspicions were confirmed when the team managed to qualify P5 just behind the heavyweight teams. The Nissan GTR Nismo wasted no time getting on the back of the GTWR #32. By Lap 17, the Nissan completed its move over the Ferrari despite fending off the #333 brilliantly for the longest of time. The pace on the Nissan was so good that they ended up racing at P4, with the race coming to a close. Eventually, the team fell by just one position but still finished in a really respectable P5, right where they qualified.
Bad Day At The Office
Things went awry right from the start for the GTRC Endurance Team #911. After qualifying a decent P27, the team looked to make up for it during the race. However, problems began right at the start, and things proceeded to go from bad to worse as the Porsche 911 GT3 R ended up being lapped in just 16 laps. That’s where the race went entirely downhill, and they even ended up spinning #34 of the Greek Souvlaki Squad. It was a bad move which resulted in a Drive Through penalty for the Porsche car for Avoidable Contact. The GTRC team even dropped all the way down to P39 and then causing a collision with the #68 of Like And Subscribe Team, in what they would term a forgetful race. But, they did manage to squeeze one more position in and finished P38 eventually.
Griphax Engineering #11 might have just been a classic example of “lightning strikes twice”. Griphax Engineering were on both sides of the spectrum with a brilliant qualifying session, finishing P3. The other side was opposite, and unlucky is an understatement. The #11 Mercedes had a brilliant first stint, even managing to come out ahead of the #149 after the first pit stop. The joy was short-lived when the #111 car spun at Turn 1, causing the Mercedes to run wide as avoiding action, causing all their excellent work to come undone. Then it was just a matter of damage control as they got overtaken in quick succession and were soon slapped with a Drive Through penalty. Things reached the lowest point when Griphax Engineering were turned by the #888 of CDA/DAL/ACR, and they fell to P18. After a few nervy minutes, they eventually finished P21 in what was a disappointing day.
Jean Alesi Academy #27 would have been the talk of the town after their results in Endurance Cup Season 2 but today was the exact opposite. The team didn’t look entirely comfortable right from qualifying, and the Ferrari could only manage at P20. They tried to make amends in the race and were even running P13 90 minutes into the race. A costly mistake at the 2nd-hour mark ended up in the #27 collecting the Like And Subscribe Team #68 team before getting penalised with a Drive Through for exceeding track limits. They also had an impressive battle with the #80 Aston Martin of GTR-Masters towards the end, but the damage was already done, and Jean Alesi E-Sports Academy could only finish P29.
What’s next from the Endurance Cup?
There were many storylines to take in from the first round of this season, and there will be plenty more to come heading into Round 2 at Monza. The 6-hour race at the Temple of Speed will definitely provide an added challenge to the already heavy Ferraris and Bentleys (the Bentleys also have 50 kilos of BOP added). No matter the conditions, with the calibre present in Season 3 of the Endurance Cup by Thrustmaster, you can rest assured that the fight for positions will be thrilling as always.
