Yesterday was Bathurst Day which in ANZ iRacing is our biggest single race of the year. We entered the race with a four entries, headlined by the ASTRO entry of Scott/Webster, and the Logitech G entry of Meyers/Blacklock. The TrueForce entry of Hanlin/Feigl were also competing, along with the wildcard Racetech entry of Marcenò/Albert.

After qualifying we had three cars in the top 10, however with a stall off the line and a misjudgement from Feigl, we had two cars at the top and two cars in 26th and 39th respectively with a long day ahead. Disaster struck immediately after the first stint for our ASTRO entry, where running in 2nd place they were thwarted by an engine problem which would end their race. Heartbreak for our lead car, and for James Scott and Cooper Webster who were extremely strong.

Meyers and Blacklock would take over the mantle and perform very well indeed, maxing out their strategic options throughout the race. Simone Maria Marcenò went on an absolute tear throughout the field with tremendous pace often being one of the fastest few cars on track in only his third ever race in the Premier series, moving the Racetech car into contention.

Opting for an early stop to gain clear air after the Lap 1 error, Feigl and Hanlin were bringing TrueForce back through the field, and avoiding several incidents in the dangerous midfield that could have been race ending. They were now well into the Top 15 with it all to play for.

With everyone’s strategic cards played throughout the day, a late safety car would prepare a final 10 lap dash as has often occurred in the great race. Meyers in 3rd, Feigl in 10th and Marcenò in 11th, the stage was set!

Former teammate Dayne Warren was leading the race and was the only driver in the Top 6 on fresh tyres, he was able to clear out into the lead and was not able to be challenged so the real battle was for the minor places. Meyers had a clear pace advantage over El-Nabi and whilst he did get into P2, race control deemed the move to be at fault so required a redress which was done safely.

However with a few laps to go, another daring move from Meyers at the chase would place him side by side going into the final bend only for Jake Burton to bump El-Nabi out of control and into Meyers, pushing them both into the gravel trap and out of the running. He would later be penalised and will ultimately be disqualified due to failing to meet the minimum drive time for teammate Ferraris, but the damage was done for El-Nabi and for us. A charging finish through the melee for the Racetech and TrueForce cars, the two cars would come across the recovering Logitech G car that rejoined just in front of the pair bringing home a solid run home with a 5th, 6th and 7th place in formation.

It most certainly is not the result we wanted as we knew that 1 or 2 cars were definitely capable of being on the podium if not the overall victory, however it was a great team effort to finish with 3 cars in the Top 7 of the great race.

Whilst it all looked without doubt a short time ago, with the season now officially over we are over the moon to announce that Beau Albert SimRacing has officially qualified for the 2020 iRacing Rallycross World Championship!

The World Championship will get underway in a short time, with the series set to start in Late September, and being the sole Australian in the field we wish him our utmost support and will be pushing his campaign in earnest.

Let’s go Bobo!

This week’s Porsche Esports Sprint Challenge round would see the return of Yannick Lapchin to the sim, and with that a PB in qualifying starting inside the Top 10 for the main race.

Cooper Webster put the Altus Porsche on Pole Position and would lead almost half of the race before losing a couple of positions and then being tagged into a spin at Bruxelles causing heavy damage and positions lost. He would come home just inside the Top 20.

Simone Maria Marceno had a good qualifying position on the 2nd row, and would get off to a good start running in 3rd place for much of the race however had sustained damage on Lap 1 affecting his outright straight line speed. This would prove prove problematic on the long straights and once the draft ahead was lost he had to push even harder at Radillion, pushing a bit too hard causing a slowdown to drop down the order.

Yannick was now the leading Altus driver however it was bust up central in the closing two laps which remarkably given Yan’s luck in this series, he was able to avoid it all to eventually cross the line in 6th, Simone making a late pass on Yan for 5th.

Spa gave us a bit of everyone – signs of good pace but a lot of craziness as well. The series takes a brief pause ahead of the final two rounds at Le Mans and Monza.

The V8 SCOPS Premier Series moved onto the second leg of the Endurance Cup, to the Imola 500 at the weekend. All three cars looked strong entering the race so hopes were high of a good result.

The ASTRO boys got off to a great start with James qualifying strongly towards the front of the field, and quickly moving into P2. Across the duration of the race they would run in P2 for the vast majority of the race and hot on the wheel tracks of P1 by mid race, and had pulled a significant lead over P3 before a late safety car came to reduce the gap. An unfortunate and rare error with the compressed field caused them to drop back to 6th with no time left to recover. Certainly a race of what might have been, however it was an excellent showing from James & Cooper who look very strong heading to Mount Panorama for the big one.

Brady Meyers returned to the Logitech G car to pair with Sam Blacklock, who had a strong run throughout the race, keeping a clean car and running well in the latter end of the Top 10. The safety car brought the field together once more and despite the challenges in front and behind, they would hold strong for 7th place, behind the ASTRO car at the flag.

It was a bit of a race to forget for the TrueForce Mustang, having had a sensational run at Phillip Island, it was from the same clean run at Imola. It was an improved qualifying performance within the Top 20, and having opted for an alternate long-long-long strategy thinking a safety car may come, disaster struck as the hope for a safety car came only when they had just committed to the pit entry, causing them to drop down a lap. At the restart, Zac made contact with another competitor resulting in a justified penalty for our car, with the pair coming home in 30th.

We move onto the biggest iRacing race in ANZ next, the Bathurst 1000. We feel confident in the fact that throughout both races we have been strong throughout, with five Top 10s out of six. It is however the win that we crave, and what we will be targeting in the great race.

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Many of you may know that Bobo did give the iRacing Rallycross Pro Series an attempt last time out and was unsuccessful, however he looks set to join the world’s elite and earn his black stripe in the Rallycross World Championships. Check out the awesome video!

James Scott & Cooper Webster have finished 3rd in a memorable opening round of the V8 SCOPS Premier Series Enduro Cup, in what was a nailbiter on a heavy fuel saving strategy to end the race. A late safety car caused calamity amongst the field with drivers having to choose quickly between saving fuel for 36 laps or sending it and taking a splash and dash. The decision to fuel save was superb having made the wrong call just last regular round at VIR, the team bounced back to take a fantastic 3rd place finish close behind 2nd place at the flag. Cooper had earlier qualified the ASTRO racer in 7th place.

Also finishing in 5th place were surprise packets Zachary Hanlin & Simon Feigl. They had a poor qualifying after Simon only managed 32nd on the grid, however an excellent double stint from Zac to push through the field, handed the car to Simon to bring to complete the race. After the two safety car periods, Simon too would opt for the fuel saving strategy which played into his endurance racing experience, able to keep a very strong pace to those normally quicker whilst still able to hit the target fuel number, ultimately finishing in 5th place. 32nd to 5th was beyond the pair’s wildest ambitions, so a fantastic result in the TrueForce Mustang.

Rounding it out with all cars in the top 10, were Sam Blacklock & Simone Maria Marcenò in the Logitech G Commodore. Sam qualified in 13th place and got off to an excellent start, and running just a bit behind the lead group for the first stint. Simone would make his return to V8 SCOPS with an excellent double stint, at times being the fastest car on circuit which was great for the Italian, before handing off to Sam for the finish. Sam was then caught out in a safety car error which would cause the pair to lose valuable track position, however all was not lost as they moved up just behind Simon before they were bumped off the circuit by another car. A gritty late comeback saw the pair finish the race in 9th place, coughing across the line.

3rd, 5th and 9th for our three pairs after Round 1 – very solid effort from everyone in the team and we’re excited to get back out there for the next race at Imola on 23rd August where Brady Meyers will make his return.

The Porsche Esports Sprint Challenge moved from Silverstone to Road Atlanta, and having had a strong run in Silverstone that didn’t quite eventuate, Cooper and Simone did an excellent job in qualifying, achieving a front row lockout for the first time this season.

Qualifying has often been our Achilles heel but on this occasion the situation was different. However as often happens in racing and with the closeness of the field, a small mistakes from each of them would drop them back to 3rd and 4th after the first lap, and with some damage to go with it. As hard as they tried including a last lap chance, they would remain in those positions up to the chequered flag.

Cooper’s 3rd place ensures he retains the championship lead, with Simone’s 4th place finish moving him up the championship standings to 7th.

Bring on Brands Hatch in two weeks time! 🤙

Our resident Rallycross competitor Beau Albert has been competing over the last eight weeks in the iRacing Rallycross Pro Qualifiers for a slot in the 2020 World Championship. After an unlucky week at Phoenix left him just 20 points above the cut-off, Beau would need a significant result at Daytona.

Qualifying second was a critical start to the event with the Top 8 separated by a tenth and a half, but also as it put Beau on the Pole for the second Heat Race. Beau managed to out-drag the fast-starting Subaru’s alongside him and after taking his joker lap at the first opportunity, controlled the Heat Race from the front.

This result would put him on the Front row for the feature and Beau was able to capitalise perfectly after the Pole Sitter bogged down, allowing the Altus Beetle to lead into Turn 1. With the field checking up for an incident at Turn 2, Beau was able to extend his lead and once again took the Joker lap as soon as possible to gap his competitors.

From here, Beau was able to maintain the gap behind and cross the line to take victory in the 6.1k SOF race and grab the biggest points of the week. Beau is hoping to become the first driver from Australia to enter the iRacing Rallycross World Championship since 2018 and now sits 8th in the standings on corrected order with just five rounds remaining.

We’ve some very exciting news that Tim Ryan will be racing the J & S Drilling Motorsport Sprintcar!

Just a matter of a few months ago, Tim Ryan dominated proceedings in the World Series Sprintcars Eseries in what was a partnered entry with John McLellan’s team to race under the J&S Drilling Altus Esports entry. With Tim impressing many within the series as well as having an exceptional off road karting background to boot, John has gone above and beyond to give Tim this once in a life time opportunity.

Tim will have the opportunity to learn from experienced Crew Chief Keith Giles which will make the steep learning curve that bit easier, but this will by no means be an easy feat in what is a rocket round the dirt track.

All of us at Altus Esports are thrilled for Tim and will be cheering him all the way. We also wanted to thank John and all the team at J&S Drilling Motorsport for this great opportunity, one we’re sure Tim will grab with both hands.

Let’s go Ryno! 💪