Author: altusesports

The 24 Hours of Nurburgring is arguably the toughest race in the world. We started the race in P5 and had a very strong opening two hours. We were running the tank long to retrieve an extra lap which would benefit us later on in the race, and the plan was working well, however small mistakes can have big consequences.

Firstly Simone made contact with the wall on the left side of his car just prior to the second pit stop, damaging the suspension in the process and costing us some straight line speed.

The lap times had dropped slightly and we were racing with RSO and Pure Racing Team managing the traffic, when a race ending crash would ensue. Simone had thought he had cleared a Mazda MX-5, but came across the nose and making extremely heavy contact with the wall. Simone did recover the car back to the pits, and we took as much repairs as we could, however with Alexander Lauritzen now at the wheel, the car had too much damage to safely continue without risking the field. The unenviable decision was made to retire the car and end our race on Lap 25.

It was not the result we were looking for and mistakes happen from time to time. However on the positive side it was a great build up for all of the team, of which we would like to pay tribute to our guest drivers Alex and Dion who were invaluable throughout the week. We bid them a fond farewell as they return to their usual teams, and we look forward to seeing them out on track in the coming races.

We will be back for redemption in 2020 as we leave with plenty of unfinished business.

After a dire run from the first four rounds of the iRacing World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series World Championship, Tim Ryan had just a 5th, a 12th and two feature DNFs to his name. With the ten round championship defence sadly in tatters, Ryno is out to to do what he does best… go fast! With only six rounds to go, winning is the only target.

The championship headed back to Volusia where the title defence got off to a bad start. On this occasion, Ryno was clinical. He top qualified for the first time, lead from start to finish in his heat and would line up on pole for the 30 lap feature, his winning formula from 2018.

The feature was a cracker, with 2018 adversary and current championship leader Alex Bergeron having a great run through the field before having a thrilling green flag duel with Ryno. The low line was on early however deteriorated especially through turns 1-2, but Tim placed his car perfectly throughout leaving Alex no room to make a definitive move. After 30 laps it was Ryno who would take the chequered flag, and his first championship race win in 2019!

The series moves onto Kokomo Speedway next week, on a track where Ryno hasn’t run a competitive race before. It’ll be a new challenge, however one he will once again be pushing for the win.

It was a case of maximising our opportunities with the Logitech G Ferrari of Simone Maria Marcenò & Simon Feigl. Simone expertly combined skill and timing to get the most of out of the changeable weather conditions to line up 4th on the grid and the leading Ferrari, ahead of an angry pack of quick cars behind. We never felt the Ferrari had the outright pace of the BMWs however the pair went on to take the race on, and use a slightly undercutting strategy to retain the all important track position, on a track that was very hard on tyres, and difficult to pass on.

After the first round of stops, we had dropped just two positions behind a very quick Coanda BMW, and a pair of quick Williams Esports Ferraris who showed strong race pace again. Towards the back end of the second stint, we lost a further position to the Red Bull Racing Esports BMW that was charging through the field, and from there Simon was able to bring the car home in 7th place, ahead of last year’s world champions from Pure Racing Team on a track we expected to be a bit further behind. 7th place at the line, and 6th overall in the championship after two rounds.

For the ASTRO Gaming squad, unfortunately it just didn’t quite go to plan. A small error on the final qualifying lap meant that Yannick was unable to improve his position, and they would end up starting P18 despite looking set for a third row grid slot. The race went from bad to worse in the first half lap of the race, with minor contact made at turn 3 in the pack, but an almost race ending incident at the first Degner where Yan was hit from behind and cars were going everywhere. The damage causing to the ASTRO Ferrari was significant, and they were well down on lap speed but thankfully were able to continue the race and avoid retirement. The would fight as hard as they could, but ultimately the damage would blunt the effort, with Vedran Kralj bringing home the ASTRO Ferrari in P20 and 23rd in the championship.

The next round heads to Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari di Imola on 18th May, where we hope the namesake gives the Ferrari the edge.

There are very exciting times ahead, with Gfinity now running the Supercars Eseries and bringing the game to iRacing. For our team and drivers this is very big news indeed, as it will enable us to perform in a series with greater exposure and excitement, as being officially involved with Supercars.

There is more to the story in regards to how we may be involved, however we are exploring all options at this point in time, and will have further news on this when possible.

Main Story: https://www.supercars.com/news/championship/supercars-unveils-next-level-2019-eseries/

Round 2 of iRacing’s World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series World Championship was run at Knoxville Raceway today and like at Volusia, Tim Ryan was in trouble early on. He managed to qualify in 5th however on Lap 1 of his heat he was the meat in the sandwich, in what ultimately was a racing incident, but meant that the bad luck continued and Tim would need to make the feature the hard way.

His B-Main race would be a lot more typical of Tim, able to move into the lead fairly early on and build an unassailable lead to easily qualify for the feature, however he would have the difficult task of sitting on the back row.

This time Tim was able to settle into a rhythm and avoid early damage to progress through the field, showing patience down low and making precision passes when he could. There were two cautions in the race from incidents further down the pack, and starting 6th on the final restart he had high hopes. Tim persisted like many did with the low line and it was working well, ultimately moving up into 4th place, however in the last few laps the high line really come up strong, and David Heileman was able to make the pass in the final laps, meaning Ryno would finish in 5th place.

Tim is hoping that his bad luck is over for the season, as he’s sitting in a lowly 11th place in the championship after 2 rounds, and 8 more to go. Plenty of chances for round wins though, and that will be the target as he heads to Limaland Motorsports Park for Round 3 next Tuesday.

It is that time of the year again – World Championship Series Openers. 2018 iRacing World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series World Champion Tim Ryan is ready to get back into the Sprint Car and take on the best in the world, in an intense 10 week World Championship Series.

Like last year, it won’t be easy and the challenges will be coming from everywhere. The car physics have changed and it has arguably made it closer than ever. Round 1 kicks off tomorrow at 11:45 AEDT on the iRacing Esports Network.

Round 1 (26th March): Volusia Speedway

Round 2 (2nd April): Knoxville Speedway

Round 3 (9th April): Limaland Motorsports Park

Round 4 (16th April): Eldora Speedway

Round 5 (23rd April): Volusia Speedway

Round 6 (30th April): Kokomo Speedway

Round 7 (7th May): Eldora Speedway

Round 8 (14th May): Williams Grove Speedway

Round 9 (21st May): The Dirt Track at Charlotte

Round 10 (28th May): Knoxville Speedway