Last Sunday GOTeam Racing attacked The Mountain (Mount Panorama aka Bathurst in Australia) with three BMW M6 GT3’s for a 4H Endurance feature hosted by Chequered Flag Simsports. Event was held on rFactor2 simracing platform.
After a close qualifying in an insanely competitive field, we qualified 3rd, 14th and 16th respectively.
During the opening laps the race ended in tears for the #77 driven by Mathias Ronzani in an unfortunate racing incident.
The #97 driven by Moriz Mehl was engaged in a tough battle with the #28 in P4 whilst the Rookie Monsters Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3 driven by Matt Beavis was spearheading the field.
A code 80 mid-way through the race handed the #97 a strategic opportunity to pit for fuel and tires. Meanwhile, both leading cars opted to stay out. The #7 driven by Waltteri Karjalainen was in 3rd place for a short while but was later set back to 8th place after a pit-stop.
Later, Christian Pallesen consolidated the #7’s way into a top 10 position which was ended by the unforgiving mountain.
After three hours of nerve-wrecking laps through the Mountain – inches away from certain death – a code 80 before the final fuel window caused the race to culminate in a strategic play-off between the #97 driven by guest driver Timotej Andonovski, the #27 Wave Freem and the #99 driven by Matt Beavis.
The #97 saved time by performing the final tyre change under a code 80, but this meant that a splash and dash 3 laps before the end was in order, costing roughly 20 seconds.
With Matthew Beavis on a charge, the #99 closed in rapidly. Then, however, their thirsty Mercedes engine left them in the need to save fuel, and the gap started to stabilize.
Much more worryingly, the #27 on fresher tyres was devouring the gap of the #97 with qualifying-style laps. A spin by Andonovski down the mountain added fuel to the fire.
It was long unsure if the #97 could maintain the required gap, but a masterclass in pressure resistance on the part of Andonovski resulted in the #97 winning with just short of 16 seconds across the finish line between the #97 and the Wave Freem eSports car that had passed the #99.
Respectively, a lot of blood, sweat and tears brought the #7 back into 13th place.
What an amazing feature from Moriz Mehl, Waltteri Karjalainen and Christian Pallesen, and special thanks to Timotej Andonovski for the sublime drive!
