Author: altusesports

A charity race called the Race for Relief was put on in conjunction with Gamer Aid to raise funds for those affected by the tragic bushfires late last year and early this year. The race itself, was a multi-class affair and to our knowledge the first of its kind of any kind of major race meeting, the Supercars and the Audi RS3 LMS TCR car.

For this race, we opted for the TCR and after we found out we needed to use numbers above 200, Jackson Souslin Harlow and real world TCR Australia driver Jay Hanson Motorsport borrowed Sam Blacklock’s 215 to put the Altus Audi on Pole Position for the four hour affair. Jackson did an excellent job early, pulling a solid gap before handing the car over to Jay, who has recently been contesting the ARG Esports Cup for Ashley Seward Motorsport in the TCR.

The lead was evaporated in a safety car phase where the rebuild would begin however an altercation with another car in traffic would knock them down the order and almost a lap down. They would mount a fantastic fightback to bring the car towards the front once more, and JSH put the pedal to the metal to extend the margin and win the race comfortably in the end.

Whilst it was a great win for the pair, it wasn’t the star of the show. The true stars were those who donated to the cause, and enjoyed a great race. On behalf of all our fellow racers, thank you for donation!

ILiveries have done it again! In what is arguably one of the best car models on iRacing, we’re stoked to show off our new Dallara F3.

Whilst we all love our new car, there has been a casualty. Can we Press F to pay our respects to Beau Albert’s headlight flashing button? 👀

SPOTTED!

There’s a new beast in town. The Altus Esports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR.

So… pretty! 😍

Speedway Sedans Australia put on their inaugural Esports event, the Speedway Sedans Australia National Modified Sedan titles and Tim Ryan was utterly dominant the whole event. On Friday night, he would win 3 from 3 of his heat races to top all of the qualifying nights, and then start on the pole for the A-Main and literally drive away from the field to win by the length of the straight for a lights to flag victory.

It’s fantastic that real world series such as SSA are getting involved in our world of Esports and can put on a show. The series itself had more than 300 entries which hit their cap still with days to go, and the final streamed race reached more than 20,000 people.

Congratulations Ryno you legend!

Last weekend Tuomas Tähtelä and Antti Ahola paired up for the first time, and what was also Antti’s first paired race since joining the team a short while ago, and what a great way to start!

The race was compromised slightly as Tuomas was performing double duty, contesting this race and the Porsche Esports Supercup Warm Up & Media Day, so would be the man to start and do the first two hours only. In true Tuomas style, he would take a deserved pole position, and lead the way from the front, showing speed and resolve to build a solid cushion after the first two hours.

Having now left the race to contest his Porsche responsibilities, the remainder of the race would be done with Antti, managing the race well and keeping the lead during the entire race, despite a few scary moments with traffic.

It would boil down to a tight finale, with just 3 seconds separating ourselves and P2 in the race heading into the final 30 minutes. However it was an unforced error from our competitors when pushing hard to catch up that would be the decisive blow. The gap quickly became 27 seconds and Antti could afford to relax and bring the car home safely and take the victory. However victory wasn’t all that they would earn, as they also accumulated the fewest incident points in the race and also earned a prize for that also! 💪

Many thanks to all of those who watched the broadcast from Finland – the support was fantastic across CMore Sport 1 & Twitch.

Yesterday saw the Official Media Day & Pre-Season test race ahead of the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup. For drivers Dayne Warren and Josh Anderson it was their first taste of Supercup, whilst Tuomas Tähtelä it was a return to action after last year’s season.

Qualifying was a closely fought out affair, with the field seperated by a matter of tenths. Fortunately due to the reverse top 8, Josh found himself in Pole Position, with Dayne just behind in 3rd place. Tuomas a bit further back, however completely expected after no practice and jumping straight from the Vauhdin Festivaali race in the BMW M8.

Josh put in an exemplary drive, leading the way from the front and holding off the challenge from Castro Ledo, Sebastian Job and 2019 Champ Josh Rogers. He would run a flag to flag victory in the heat race, running an error free race despite the pressure from behind. Dayne was running in P3 and almost made it an Altus 1-2, however was caught out and passed by Job, Rogers and Carroll to finish back in 6th place. Tuomas avoided what was a whole lot of carnage back in the pack to return a clean car ready for the feature race.

Off the start line in the feature, Josh got too much wheelspin and was swamped by the pack before being involved in an incident in Turn 1 dropping him to the back of the field with a damaged car he would bring home in the latter end of the grid.

Dayne managed a solid start off the grid to move into P5 however made a mistake entering Turn 5 on Lap 1, sending Carroll off track which was regrettable. He was then climbing all over the back of Benecke with Verstappen close behind, and with the pace advantage went for a move into Turn 1 with a very slight touch causing Max to spin which was also a shame. Now in 3rd, the really encouraging sign however was the pace to Job and Rogers. For what was his first round in the series, the pace and consistency was right up there with the top two, Dayne ultimately finishing within 2 seconds of Rogers, and well ahead of Max Verstappen behind.

Tuomas managed to escape the Turn 1 melee, but couldn’t help going off track to avoid a spinning car at Turn 5 in a seperate incident to Dayne’s. He’d then channel his inner ‘Cole Trickle’ to avoid a two messes at the end of the circuit in the early and mid sections of the race to finish P20.

Overall it was a very solid pre-season race, and we are not going to get ourselves too carried away as it was just that, we are quietly confident heading into Round 1 at Zandvoort on May 2nd.

Last weekend, the V8 SCOPS Premier Series kicked off with Round 3. The effects of COVID-19 have affected us all in a terrible way, however one of the few positives have been the emergence and exposure of Sim Racing to help fill the void left by Motorsport, and Sport in general. The outcome of this was one of the highest profile and stacked V8 SCOPS fields for some time. The best in the Supercars Sim Racing were joined by real world stars Anton De Pasquale, Scott McLaughlin and Brodie Kostecki.

Drivers would be fighting on what has traditionally been one of the most entertaining places to watch the Supercars, Sebring International Raceway. Returning to the series after a small break after Porsche Supercup qualifying, was Dayne Warren and he wasted little time stamping his authority, claiming Pole Position and taking a dominant Flag to Flag victory in Race 1. Brother Ethan Warren also had a great race claiming a 6th position finish! How good! 😁

Race 2 was a reverse grid race for the first 23 cars, leaving the Warren brothers with a lot of work to do. Both drivers made solid ground through the pack, where unfortunate the race became unstuck through contact at the opening chicane complex. Ethan fared a little better, however both would be able to recover for top 20 finishes by the race end.

In Split 2, it was a fantastic race for two of our drivers, Sam Blacklock and Zachary Hanlin. For Sam, it was unusual territory for him however he showed his class by shadowing in P2 for much of the race. An ill timed Safety car would pretty much eliminate his chance of a victory, however this played right into the hands of Zac who pitted early in the race and thus was fuelled to the finish at the safety car restart. Zac would cross the line for a Split 2 win, with Sam recovering to claim P3.

Overall it was an great day’s racing for the team, especially for Dayne who claimed his second V8 SCOPS win, and his first that wasn’t a reverse grid race win. This… was completely on merit! 👏👏

It is our great pleasure to reveal that Antti Ahola has joined Altus Esports. We’ve known Antti for a very long time, as a long time competitor of ours when driving for Vendaval Simracing. Antti is a former competitor in the iRacing GT World Championship, and finished inside the top 10 overall last year alongside fellow Altus driver, Josh Anderson.

Antti is an excellent guy to have around, has tremendous speed and is as committed as you’ll ever see. In the last few days when Antti was welcome internally into our team, we’ve been impressed with his excellent work ethic, and we are confident that we will continue our march forward.

Please make Antti welcome – I’m sure you’re all going to love him! 😁

The Oceanic Dirt Sim Events- ODSE 360 Sprintcar Power Series kicked off with the thydesigns 40 Lap Feud at the iconic Lernerville Speedway, and in what is a very strong field with many World Championship contenders, Tim Ryan had put together an excellent run, leading the way from the moment the green flag waved and managing the restarts and the threats from behind.

However late in the race with only a few laps remaining, rival Alex Bergeron attempted a slide job on Tim, only for it to more accurately resemble a slide tackle, thus dropping Tim back down the order and damaging his sprint car in the process. Whilst Alex was penalised and dropped down the order as a result, the chances of a win with so few laps was going to be very difficult indeed. Ryno would have to settle for a P2 finish in the feature race, but does leave Lernerville with the lead in the championship.

It was a disappointing finish with the race poised for a grandstand finish, only to be let down by a poorly executed move. Nevertheless we will move on, and look forward to the next race in the series, from Volusia Speedway Park.

The weekly Strength of Field races have been picking up in popularity in recent weeks especially among some of the top drivers, and with that we have seen the surge of one of our latest signings, Brady Meyers.

Brady put in an excellent performance in both the Week 11 round @ Mosport International Raceway, and Week 12 @ Sonoma Raceway in what was heavy competition. At Mosport the competition was tight, qualifying within the first few rows and being a watchful observer in third for much of the race. However a calculated strategy call to overcut and leverage his fuel advantage was exploited, leaving him in a very good position against newcomer Caruso and regular protagonist Haber. Despite the rear bumper being full of Holden Commodores, he was able to secure an excellent win, his first of the season.

As if one was enough though? Moving ahead one week at Sonoma, and what was a solid performance within V8 SCOPS Premier Series the day prior, he managed to qualify again in the first couple of rows, and take advantage of a first lap contact to scoot on through for the race lead at turn 2. From there, the race would be an arduous battle for the whole race against multiple champion Madison Down. The pair would be the last to pit, and showed maximum commitment during the pit stop phase, one attacking, one defending. It would end up being another victory for Brady, and a very impressive drive mentally.

While this is Week 13, we wanted to take a moment to recognize these performances as a platform to go further next season. Congratulations Brady!