The SimGrid’s mini-championship is doing something different in the world of Assetto Corsa Competizione, with a series where each round is held at the Kyalami circuit in Gauteng, South Africa. Rounds 3 and 4 saw action up and down the field, read below to get in the know!
Round 3 – Lozanov takes a commanding victory from Ruppert in the Porsche Cup car
Round 3 saw competitors race in the Porsche Cup car; which provides a real challenge, as unlike most other cars, it doesn’t feature traction control. To come out on top, drivers would need a steady right foot to keep the car going in the right direction.
Qualifying saw championship leader, Félix Ruppert, take pole position from Kristiyan Lozanov and Errol Verwey, after a blistering lap that put him almost two-tenths of a second ahead of the field.
When the race got underway, Lozanov was able to make an exceptional move on Ruppert into turn two. By being more confident on the brakes, he was able to go around the outside and edge ahead of his championship rival Ruppert. From this point on, Lozanov slowly built a lead that ultimately would never be challenged.
Alexander Novikov took advantage of a mistake by Errol Verwey at the start of lap 3 to snatch third away from the Dutch driver. From there, he was able to put in a series of fast laps and catch up to the back of second-place but unfortunately couldn’t make a move to snatch the position away.
Stories further down the grid
There many different battles being fought lower down the running order; however the big winner was Denise Pope. After starting in P25, she made up six places throughout the race to finish in P19, and take home some points.
Englishman Harry Phillips, unfortunately, failed to capitalise on qualifying up in P8. After dipping a wheel on the grass through Mineshaft on the first lap, his race got a whole lot harder, as this put the car into a spin and left him near the back of the grid. Sadly, his race got even worse after a moment through Cheetah on lap 7, which sent him out of control into the barrier. This regrettably led to significant damage and culminated in him finishing in P27.
Round 4 – Félix Ruppert takes a ‘lights to flag’ victory cementing himself as the person to beat
Round 4 slowed things down, with the drivers now taking to the Porsche Cayman GT4. With the car being around 7 seconds a lap slower than the Porsche Cup, it provided close racing throughout the field.
Once again Félix Ruppert was able to place his car at the head of the field in pole position; with Lozanov lining up alongside hoping to repeat the move he pulled off previously. This wasn’t the case, as Ruppert in the #71 was able to stave off the charge from rival Lozanov at the start of the race.
They were closely followed by Novikov and Verwey, ready to jump on any opportunity presented to them by the pair fighting ahead. While Lozanov was close to the back of Ruppert ahead of them, he was never really close enough to challenge him for the victory.
Stories further down the grid
Kevin Rowland of HappyWired Racing was hoping to make progress, a rough qualifying session with traffic left him starting lower down than expected. He was making good progress, however, this was all undone after a late move on lap 14 which saw him collide with Gareth Mills in #4. This resulted in both cars spinning out, and Kevin receiving a 15-second penalty from race control.
Where do we stand heading into the final round?
Well first of all, whereas rounds 1 through 4 have been 30-minute sprint races; round 5 will see competitors complete a 75-minute race. This will feature custom BoP (Balance of Performance) and a single fuel pitstop.
For the first time, it’s up to the driver to choose a car of their liking; from the front-engined speed machine of the Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo to the mid-engined handling champion of the Audi R8 LMS Evo, we’re likely to see a varied grid of manufacturers fighting it out in this championship decider.
Going into the race, favourite Félix Ruppert leads rival Kristiyan Lozanov by 6 points; meaning that whoever wins the race will seal the championship. Further down Reegan Mitchell and Errol Verwey currently share the honours of third place in the standings with 128 points each.
It’s all going down to the wire here at the SimGrid with the Kyalami Series, so make sure you stay up to date with our social media accounts and make sure you’re never out of the loop!
Written by Jack Bird
