Author: altusesports

By virtue of competing strongly in the iRacing Porsche Esports Supercup and the Virtual Racing School GT Endurance World Championship, Tuomas Tähtelä was invited by iRacing to compete in a new event for iRacing, the iRacing 2020 All-Stars in the European-International division. This event would see Tuomas trade in his two Porsche’s to be part of an elite 12 man field, racing an Xfinity Chevrolet Camaro NASCAR, Audi TCR, Pro 4 Stadium Truck and the classic Street Stock.

Tuomas channelled his inner Tim Ryan to take pole position in his first ever Dirt Oval race, with the fastest time in the Street Stock. However the race would pan out to be a bit trickier, ultimately finishing up in 4th place.

Next up was the Audi TCR, and despite missing the mark in qualifying and starting towards the back, he had an amazing start to cut through the field heading into Turn 1 before finishing up in 7th place.

Returning to unfamiliar territory, he fired up the NASCAR and again had a race where he only got quicker and quicker, ultimately crossing the like in 7th place.

Lastly, we were back on the dirt for the Pro 4 Stadium truck and despite again it being his first race in the car, he excelled. It was a great race for Tuomas, finishing up with a 5th place finish.

What a great initiative from iRacing, to put together such a fun event. Throughout the field there was fun had by all, in what was a unique series of races that showcased the ability for drivers to adapt to new machinery.

Special mention also to ILiveries, for once again coming to the party with supplying us with our beautiful new liveries on cars we don’t typically race. It was an intense workload supplying no less than four of the teams with liveries ahead of the event, and we thank them for their amazing work!

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Today we are proud to compete in a charity race for little Anna, a girl from France who has a very rare disease. Of course a result will be nice, but more than that is that we are among other fellow competitors who are all here supporting her plight as we all aim for her health, to raise funds to support her recovery.

We’ve created a special edition livery to commemorate the event, and will race with the pink in her honour. Many thanks to Yannick Lapchin and Zachary Hanlin for steering the car for this great cause.

Please be sure to visit the website to donate

www.24hoursforanna.com

In what has been an uncharacteristically busy period where there’s been lots of racing going on, and some changes away from the track, in the midst was Round 2 of Sports Car Open.

Racing in the event was Yannick Lapchin and Tuomas Tähtelä, and having taking 2nd place in Round 1, they were looking to go one better. Yannick put the car P2 on the grid, before handing over to Tuomas for the first half of the race.

Despite missing the jump off the line, Tuomas would drop back to P4 early, however an altercation with the leading two cars meant that the leader dropped back and SIMRC who were running in P3 had to take avoiding action, and we benefitted by claiming the position back. From that point, Tuomas was able to settle into a strong rhythm, opting to stop at the same time as the leading Pure Racing Team car driven by Max Benecke.

Yannick would be handed back the car with a 15 second deficit from the lead, but a further 20 seconds back to P3. It was a tense time with the traffic affecting the whole field at various stages, and managing the traffic was very difficult to do whilst losing the least amount of time. Yan expertly managing the traffic, and despite one scary moment of miscommunication between an LMP2 car and us, Yan was able to manage the gap behind, and ever so slightly close on the leader. The gap difference was too great however, and we would find ourselves in a lonely spot, well ahead of P3 but also behind P1 by some margin.

After 2 rounds, we are sitting P2 in the championship behind leaders Pure Racing Team. The series now moves to an 8 Hour race at Sebring, where anything can happen at the bumpy circuit. We will continue to push for that P1 position, and aim to win as we exit Sunset bend.

We are proud to welcome to the team one of Australia’s best talents on iRacing, Josh Anderson. His talents within the top level of Sim Racing have been very clear to see this year, especially within the iRacing GT Endurance World Championship run this year, where he often starred and made a name of himself within the Top 10s, even taking a front row start in Imola in what was his rookie season and ultimately finishing the season in the Top 10 in the championship.

The Porsche Cup Car is a favourite of Josh’s and is a big focus for the team moving forward, and his raw talent in that car is excellent. Josh also made great strides this year in the V8 Supercar to be one of the main contenders for an Eseries seat, only to narrowly miss out through the draft. With the new cars due to touch down soon, we are all very excited to jump in and learn what we can from them so that we can compete against the very best in Supercars.

Lastly, Josh is also a real world racer currently racing in the Aussie Racing Cars series, sitting 3rd in the Championship heading into the final round at Newcastle. You can follow his racing page at Josh Anderson Racing. His real world experience and Sim Racing experience make him a valuable asset for the team.

We’re very excited to announce his arrival, as our plans for 2020 can be revealed.

Representing the Red Bull Holden Racing Team in the Gfinity Australia Supercars Eseries was our Dayne Warren, he was able to achieve a fantastic result for himself and RBHRT, by finishing the season in a very strong 3rd place in the series.

The Walkinshaw Andretti United duo of Joshua Rogers and Jarrad Filsell were too good in the end, however round to round it was regularly Dayne getting stuck into them and ruffling their feathers as best as he could.

In the end it was not enough, however knowing the challenge of who he was up against, we are very proud of his achievements and accomplishments. The ESeries is over for now, but we’re hoping for even bigger and better things in future, in what has been a very successful series for all of the drivers and Supercars.

Congratulations once again, and thank you to Red Bull Holden Racing Team, Red Bull and Holden for supporting Dayne throughout the whole Eseries. It has been an honour!

It is with a heavy heart that we must announce some changes within the team. We bid farewell to three very strong drivers and those who we have known more as brothers.

Firstly Simone Maria Marcenò… Mamma Mia, has decided to do what he is very motivated to do, and that is to create his own small Sim Racing team. It’s a journey not too dissimilar to our humble beginnings also, and whilst losing Simone as a driver and teammate, we retain him as a very close friend and wish him all the best in the future.

We also bid farewell to Marin Čolak and Vedran Kralj, the dynamic duo who were two of our earliest European based drivers, and were able to achieve some fantastic things with the team. A direction change from within the team however has brought about this change, and we do wish Marin and Vedran well in the future.

Stay tuned for some further announcements surrounding our team roster, with our first new driver to be announced tomorrow!

Any ideas who it could be?