Last weekend our highly anticipated TSRC 500 Endurance Series started with what was a thrilling spectacle from start to finish at the legendary Nürburgring circuit. The race was set to be exciting from the moment the weather forecast was discovered by the teams from prior practice sessions. The championship features a unique format with teams having to plan three mandatory driver swap pitstops, this dynamic proved to be a real challenge during the opening round.

The round started off with a 30 minute qualifying session. The session started off dry however teams were aware conditions could change at any minute so everyone was eager to set banker lap times. As the heated qualifying session came to an end it would be Benjamin Lange setting the fastest lap for the #144 Team ONE ⦁ FF car with a lap time of “1:53.525”. The following four cars were only separated by less than a tenth of second so Team ONE ⦁ FF didn’t have it easy.

When the lights went green Team ONE ⦁ FF would hold on to the lead and would so for the majority race. Some teams came close such as the #678 Armamentario car, however after picking up a penalty early for causing a collision this would ultimately keep them out of contention for the win. The mid pack was full of action with teams such as SPQRacing Team, Rocket Simsport and Simply Race Esports battled it out back and forth after serving their pitstops.

Team ONE ⦁ FF would find themselves also getting a ten second penalty for a collision with a backmarker later on in the race, and with team F1 MEMES Racing Team in reach this applied great pressure. Just as the finish line came into sight, chaos erupted. Dark storm clouds rolled in, unleashing torrential rain upon the track. The once-grippy surface turned treacherous, transforming the race into a test of adaptability. All teams handled the weather with great skill however Nikolay Polyakov shoned with great pace in the McLaren 720s GT3 Evo of the #13 F1 MEMES Racing Team car closing the ten second gap to the lead to take the win.

Next round the drivers head to the historic and challenging track of Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. The championship is in its early stages and many teams will be looking to make progress to claim the top steps for the SimGrid x VCO Grand Finals.