VBTCR is back! After a highly successful inaugural season, we are back with another full 40 car grid for some more thrilling touring car action and what better way to kick off the season than heading to the home of motorsport, Silverstone. For the first round of the season we were using the full 3.66 mile (5.89 km) Grand Prix circuit which presented the drivers with plenty of overtaking opportunities and the chance to navigate some of the most famous corners in the world.
Between the end of season one and now, iRacing treated us to some new TCR goodness in the form of three new TCR cars meaning that for the first time ever the grid was made up of four different vehicles! There were still plenty of the original iRacing TCR Audi RS3’s on track but they are now joined by the Honda Civic Type R, Hyundai Elantra N and the Hyundai Veloster N.
When we opened up registration for season two we were overjoyed to see lots of familiar names from season one on the sign up forms but also plenty of new drivers signing up for their first taste of VBTCR, meaning that we go into the season with no idea who will come out on top.
qualifying
As is the way in VBTCR, quali was run as a 15 minute open qualifying format, presenting drivers with the challenge of not only being the quickest car out there, but also navigating other traffic and timing their hot laps to perfection. Even with a lot of experienced VBTCR competitors out there, the top three drivers in qualifying were all championship newcomers. The fastest of which was Mad4Mini – Heusinkveld driver Roman Paerschke who put his Hyundai Veloster onto pole position with a blisteringly quick time of 2:13.556.
Roman was joined on the front row by his team mate, Ryan Elliott who was also driving a Hyundai Veloster. Meaning that it was a front row lockout for the Mad4Mini – Heusinkveld pair on their first time of asking.
Showing that even with all these new cars in the championship, the Audi RS3 still has plenty of pace was UK Sim Racing driver Ell Neal who managed to secure third on the grid.
race One
It was a dream start for pole man Roman Paerschke who got off the line well and held the lead into turn one. The same can not be said for his team mate Ryan Elliott however, who just couldn’t get that optimal launch from his Hyundai and coincidentally dropped all the way down to 6th place. Further down the grid, an unfortunate bit of oversteer into the first corner turned Dan Thronton around meaning that he collected a couple of cars who did their best to avoid the spinning Audi but overall it was a very clean getaway for the vast majority of the gird.
Duncan Steele was starting in 20th position and had the honour of being the lead ‘Rookie’ driver (Rookies this season have been decided as the lowest 1/3 of drivers, looking at their iRating as of the time the driers signed up to the championship). TR powered by Geekz Energy driver Scott Morris soon took this away from Duncan however, storming from 22nd up to 17th in just over a lap!
The opening race was and absolute thriller with battles throughout the whole grid almost the entire race. With the top three being just over one second apart as they crossed the line in a battle that went right the way to the last corner, it was a hard fought one-two for the Mad4Mini – Heusinkveld drivers, with Roman taking not only pole position but now his first VBTCR win. Mats Borge Andersen, racing for Pulsus eSports finished out the podium and also claimed the fastest lap of the race.
race two - reverse grid race
New for season two is the ‘second chance restart’, a process dreamed up by the VBTCR admin team that in the unfortunate event that a large percentage of the field get caught up in an incident in the early stages of a race, neutralises the race and gives those drivers just as the name suggests… a second chance. As the lights went green, a stationary car in the middle of the grid resulted in an almost unavoidable obstacle that resulted in one of those incidents that was just mentioned and therefore the second chance restart was utilised. Make sure to check out the broadcast at the bottom of this page to see how it all worked out!
Race two has always been a fan highlight in VBTCR, with a full reverse grid race it gives every single driver a new challenge and opportunity and once again, when we eventually got underway it did not disappoint. Drivers battling their way through from the back trying to maximise their points haul from this round gave us a bunch of great battles and overtakes throughout.
Jacob Money was our race two winner, giving himself and his team, Positively Racing a big points haul this round. Thomas Dandridge brought his Hyundai Veloster home in second place whilst setting the fastest lap of the race and Rookie driver Neil Goodacre got an overall podium in race two which is a fantastic result for the Spotless Motorsport driver!
summary
With Hondas, Hyundais and Audi’s on the podiums as well as six different podium position drivers, this season is shaping up to be a cracker!
Thomas Dandridge walks away as the championship leader after this round with Martyn Pearson and Roman Paerschke tied on point for second we can see this becoming a very competitive season. Unsuprisingly, Neil Goodacre is leading the rookies championship after that race two podium with Miko Skye and Scott Morris in second and third, respectively.
Over in the teams championship its Pulsus eSports that is leading the way with Mad4Mini – Heusinkveld just three points behind. Sapphire Simsport are sitting in third and will be looking at closing the gap to Pulsus at the next round. The big shock is season one teams podium finishers Spud Motorsport who are all the way down in sixteenth position, they will be hoping that round two will treat them much better and allow them to start climbing back up the table.
Make sure to watch the race broadcast over on our YouTube channel to get a full experience of what went down at Silverstone!
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