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Tag: 143

BACK TO BACK ALTUS ENDURANCE CUP VICTORIES!

The second race of the V8 SCOPS Premier Series Endurance Cup would take place at the traditional Phillip Island circuit. Having taken victory at the first race in the hands of James Scott and Sam Blacklock, they looked strong once again taking a second successive pole position.

Blacklock had a tremendous launch and began the race strongly, however teammate Cooper Webster made up the ground and was able to make the pass mid way through the opening stint to take the lead for the first time. Simon Feigl too had made a move up to P7 however had an awkward tangle to drop off the circuit at Siberia losing valuable time.

Altus & V8 SCOPS debutant Ryan Wood took over the #83 from Feigl during the second safety car phase, however now sitting in P31 had lots of work to be done. The Scott/Blacklock car was tagged and turned around at Honda, dropping them to the back and with a damaged #088. They would struggle to recover and come home in P14.

With Webster and Jordan Caruso in the effective lead on fuel strategy, there was a breath taking battle with Synergy Sim Racing‘s Jackson Souslin Harlow and Caruso, with JSH able to hold onto the lead for the time being before Caruso undercut the #143 to break free to clear air. Caruso would lead home a first ever Endurance Cup victory for Webster and Caruso.

It was a similar story with Wood, who did two undercutting pit stops in a row relative to their competitors to vault up the order to P5 with the final stint to go, and were able to pass on the track the TTR and United SSR cars to sit in the podium place before managing a fuel deficit to bring the #83 home in third place.

It was a tough race for Hanlin and Danson in the end, however Danson accumulated valuable V8 miles ahead of the great race next up!

Overall it was an excellent race for the team, with a double podium finish for the second successive race, and a starring display from debutant Ryan Wood to take a podium in his first V8 SCOPS race.

Next up… the Bathurst 1000 in a few weeks!

Logitech G | Virtual Racing School | Cube Controls | Racetech NZ | own3d.tv – Better Game Streaming

SCOTT & BLACKLOCK WIN IMOLA 500!

After a fantastic shootout lap, James would start the race from Pole Position. Sam ran a tremendous opening double stint before handing the reins back to James to complete the job. It was a closely fought battle with fellow Altus car piloted by Jordan Caruso and Cooper Webster, running 1-2 for a lot of the race, along with the Synergy Sim Racing #143 entry of Souslin-Harlow and Ross. In the end though, the #088 of Scott and Blacklock would prevail to claim their second ever win in V8 SCOPS, ahead of the SSR #143 with Jordan and Cooper rounding out the podium!

It was also a good showing for our Enduro Cup entries of Zachary Hanlin and Beau Albert, and Oval ace Matt Danson and Team Manager Simon Feigl. Both featured inside the top 10 at various stages of the race, however both would finish outside the top 10.

Nevertheless, it was a fantastic result for the team and a great start of the Enduro Cup!

P1 James Scott / Sam Blacklock
P3 Jordan Caruso / Cooper Webster
P12 Zachary Hanlin / Beau Albert
P18 Matt Danson / Simon Feigl

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Daytona Defence Denied

The 2020 edition of the iRacing 24 Hours of Daytona has concluded for another year, and whilst this time last year we were basking in glory, this year we are left licking our wounds.

Early issues would rule out our #143 GTE entry and #83 GT3 entry, with all attention moving to the #43 Logitech G BMW. Performance was strong, however our challenge was brought undone in the 14th hour, where running in 3rd place contact was made with a slightly out of control car. Whilst the contact itself didn’t seem too bad, unfortunately our steering was completely destroyed and required 15 minutes of repair.

We continued on, and spread the #Race4Relief message to all who watched the race, however in the end we would come up in 14th place, several laps down.

Whilst the end result was not what we had hoped for, the positives are the work behind the scenes within the team and the preparation that went into the event. A fantastic effort!

Perhaps the biggest positive of all, was the community support, and stories that we had heard of people donating to their chosen charity, and hearing other stories of aid being provided by those who had seen our message. We were also very humbled by all teams participating in this charity drive, and the support given by RaceSpot, iRacing and the Sim Racing community across the globe.

On behalf of all Australians, we say thank you. 🤗

#Race4Relief #DonateForAustralia #THANKYOU

Logitech G Altus Esports #43 – GTE

Andrew Kahl (AUS)

Simon Feigl (AUS)

Yannick Lapchin (FRA)

Tuomas Tähtelä (FIN)

ASTRO Gaming Altus Esports #83 – GT3

Zachary Hanlin (AUS)

Jackson Souslin Harlow (AUS)

Ethan Warren (AUS)

Sam Blacklock (NZL)

Motum Altus Esports #143 – GTE

Alexander Lauritzen (DEN)

Beau Albert (AUS)

Brady Meyers (AUS)

Ross Balfour (UK) Guest Driver

2nd Place Finish to kick of Sports Car Open season

Having finished in second place in the standings last year from just half a season of competition, the team is looking to go one better in the six round endurance series. Following a WEC style format, Sports Car Open is considered the Premier Series for LMP1, LMP2 and GTE Competition, with a world class field filling the timesheets each round.

However despite our runner up position of last season, Altus would field an entirely new pair from what raced last season. Giant killer Tuomas Tähtelä and Alexander Lauritzen would pair up, and make their debut in the series driving the #143. It would not be a brilliant start however, with qualifying only slotting them 10th on the grid in the 24 car GTE field. However Tuomas put his game face on, and drove brilliantly to exploit what was a very good race car, moving up 5 positions in the opening 15 minutes, and by the end of the first hour of racing, had moved all the way up into the P2 position, just 8 seconds behind the leading Pure Racing Team car.

We opted for a Double-Double tyre strategy, leveraging the car’s consistent wear to double stint the tyres twice in the four hour race.The opening double stint would prove fruitful, as we would gain a couple of seconds on PRT across the stint despite the varied strategy. Alex would jump in the car for the third hour, and being a late replacement for Yannick who unfortunately had prolonged Internet issues in the leadup, would put in a solid stint to stay within sight of the leader, and drop only one position to Biela Racing. Tuomas would return for the final hour, jumping into the car on old tyres and putting in an excellent drive to reclaim back 2nd position, but catch the leader significantly, and cross the line less than two seconds behind the race winner.

It was an excellent return to form for the team, who were very disappointed with their showing last week at the NEO Endurance 24H Series, also at Spa. The Sports Car Open Series now moves to Motegi in a few weeks time, where we will be looking to continue our strong race pace, but make an improvement to our qualifying position.