Misano, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
The Sunday League returned last weekend for it's 7th season, and in its opening round at the Misano World Circuit, Euro Titans' Carlos Diesch cleared house in an incredible open for ETE and Ferrari.
Season 7 saw the first deployment of the new Pro and Am system, replacing the previous Rookies and Mainline championships, and in the Pros, Season 7 started strong in qualifying for last season's Rookies Champion Patrick Leger, the Dutchman had been only recently acquired by 5Star Esports, alongside Declan Anderson and Gabriel Rivera, the latter of whom would claim the AM division pole in qualifying, Leger claimed the PRO pole position ahead of Carlos Diesch and FaKe Galaxy, the duo made their sunday league debut in Zolder during the early weeks of Season 5, with Diesch becoming its Rookies champion, they started last season with Audi, but for Season 7, the duo moved to Ferrari.
Diesch's bizzare thinking saw a brief drive with Honda late last season, with signs during the off-season that the Swiss talent would remain at Honda for Season 7, that decision would be heelturned no less than 72 hours before the first round of this season.
QUALIFYING SUMMARY (Top 5)
- Patrick LEGER (NED) - Ford - 1:33.555
- Carlos DIESCH (SUI) - Ferrari - 1:33.625
- FaKe GALAXY (AUT) - Ferrari - 1:33.715
- Declan ANDERSON (GBR) - Mercedes-AMG - 1:34.270
- Tylor VERMAAK (RSA) - Bentley - 1:34.372
As the Sprint Race got underway, Diesch immediately leapt from 2nd to 1st, outpacing the Ford of Patrick Leger on the run into turns 1-3, Diesch would continue to build a gap after his overtake, holding the lead by over a second before the end of the first lap, behind, Tylor Vermaak of 5Star Esports Bentley would run wide from the exit of the Rio complex, allowing an interception by Alan Alexander of ETE, in AM, Gabriel Rivera on his debut drive to both Lamborghini and 5Star would drop from the lead behind Bohemia Motorsports' David Kolařík, at the end of the Sprint, Diesch claimed his first victory with Ferrari in PRO, and David Kolařík would take his first division win of his Sunday League career in AM.
With the Feature around the corner, 5Star Esports' Patrick Leger, Declan Anderson and Tylor Vermaak seemed tense, after suffering defeat again to rivals Euro Titans Endurance, they would need a strong start to get the jump on Galaxy and Diesch, what would follow into the start of the Feature Race was the unthinkable for the team.
As 30 cars braced for the run into Turn 1-3 at the Variante del Parco, Declan Anderson would strike the rear quarter of Fake Galaxy's Ferrari under braking, sending the #55 forward into the rear of Patrick Leger, setting off a horrific chain reaction that saw the Dutchman collected by a sizeable portion of the field, his #9 Mustang was unrecognizable as the smoke cleared. Diesch had slipped away to another lead, and 5Star lost both division leads, as colliding with the #9 was the AM Division leader, Gabriel Rivera. Petr Kuchar of Bohemia Motorsports would take the AM lead after turn 3, with Arthur Beake of Ddraig Racing in pursuit, up in PRO, Diesch led by over 2.3 seconds after sector 1 alone, with Vermaak now into 2nd, and ETE's Kieran Rodd rounding out the podium, behind them was Anderson and NotLastRacing's Sam Angel, Angel was last seen on the Sunday League racing for TSRC Esports, he had since returned with a new team but the same #719 Aston Martin V8 Vantage, he was accompanied by his teammate Zsolt Beefgartner behind.
As the race continued, Beefgartner would continue to charge up the order, entering the top 5 in the latter half of the Feature, owing to solid pace and an early pit strategy, he would contest 3rd against Tylor Vermaak all the way to the chequered flag, where he finished 4th by just over a quarter of a second.
In AM, Kuchar's early lead would sadly not last, as Arthur Beake would overtake Kuchar after a brief 5 minute tangle, toward the closing minutes of the Feature, David Kolařík had advanced to 2nd, but at the chequered flag, Arthur Beake won in AM at the Feature.
As the chequered flag flew, Carlos Diesch was first to greet it, securing back to back wins in a mirror match of his Season 6 performance, the Swiss talent having shown a newfound domination of the field, the road ahead looks bright for Diesch, as his pursuits of a Drivers Championship Title begin.
RACE SUMMARY - SPRINT (TOP 5)
PRO:
- Carlos DIESCH (SUI) - Ferrari - Euro Titans Endurance
- Patrick LEGER (NED) - Ford - 5Star Esports
- FaKe GALAXY (AUT) - Ferrari - Euro Titans Endurance
- Declan ANDERSON (GBR) - Mercedes-AMG - 5Star Esports
- Cas VAN VELZEN (NED) - Mercedes-AMG - Euro Titans Endurance
AM:
- David KOLAŘÍK - Ferrari - Bohemia Motorsport
- Arthur BEAKE (GBR) - Ferrari - Ddraig Racing
- Charlie SMITH (IRL) - Ferrari - 5Star Esports
- Gabriel RIVERA (ESP) - Lamborghini - 5Star Esports
- Jan MÄRZ (CZE) - Ferrari - Bohemia Motorsport
RACE SUMMARY - FEATURE (TOP 5)
PRO:
- Carlos DIESCH (SUI) - Ferrari - Euro Titans Endurance
- Declan ANDERSON (GBR) - Mercedes-AMG - 5Star Esports
- Tylor VERMAAK (RSA) - Bentley - 5Star Esports
- Zsolt BEEFGARTNER (HUN) - Lexus - NotLastRacing
- Alan ALEXANDER (GBR) - Bentley - Euro Titans Endurance
AM:
- Arthur BEAKE (GBR) - Ferrari - Ddraig Racing
- David KOLAŘÍK - Ferrari - Bohemia Motorsport
- Charlie SMITH (IRL) - Ferrari - 5Star Esports
- Rúben PINHO (POR) - Porsche - TorqueLine Motorsport
- Joey FISHER (USA) - Mercedes-AMG - Floor It Engineering
More action to follow from the Sunday League Grid as they head to Australia this weekend, action can be found on both the TRTN YouTube Channel and LIVE Exclusively via the TRTN Twitch Channel, accessable via Twitch or via the XCLusive Racing TRTN Portal. Full Results of each race can be found via the NLRL SimGrid page, under "NLRL Sunday League Season 7 - Brought to you by TRTN"