Watkins Glen, New York, USA
Tylor Vermaak of 5Star Esports secured their first win of the season in New York following an exciting battle with now former championship leader, Fake Galaxy of Euro Titans Endurance.
Sunday League S7 R3 took the grid to New York for their first endurance race of the season at the historic Watkins Glen International Circuit, and with it came the first instance of wet weather this season, this spiced things up in the early stages of the session, with Free Practice yielding fastest times not to Ferrari despite 2 rounds and 5 races of domination, but to Bentley and Lamborghini via Vermaak and teammate Gabriel Rivera. Bentley found great advantage under BoP changes for Round 3, where the Continental was to shed 38kg from factory weight, leaving the already deceptively lightweight Bentley even lighter in lieu of Qualifying, 5Star Esports found great joy at the end of Free Practice, as their drivers marked the top 4 times of the session, with Vermaak fastest, Rivera 2nd, Declan Anderson in 3rd and Kyle Jenkins in 4th.
As Qualifying began, Fake Galaxy would be first among the frey on the charge into the first flying laps of the session, however, his stay at an early pole position was short lived, as in the opening volley of times, Vermaak took an early lead by 6 tenths, Galaxy remained 2nd, with Anderson 3rd, Kyle Jenkins in 4th and Season 5 Sunday League Champion Cas Van Velzen in 5th
As the session progressed, Patrick Leger and Kieran Rodd entered the top 5 behind Galaxy, with Leger later taking the fastest lap from Vermaak by less than a tenth. Declan Anderson would snatch Leger's pole position by 193 thousandths of a second, as now 4 drivers contested pole, this became 5 with the swift introduction of NotLastRacing's Zsolt Beefgartner.
In the closing minutes of Qualifying, Fake Galaxy would retake pole by an ultra narrow 0.012s, with Vermaak 2nd, and Anderson 3rd.
QUALIFYING SUMMARY (TOP 5)
- Fake GALAXY (AUT) - Ferrari - 1:50.165
- Tylor VERMAAK (RSA) - Bentley - 1:50.177
- Declan ANDERSON (GBR) - McLaren - 1:50.312
- Patrick LEGER (NED) - Ford - 1:50.397
- Kieran RODD (GBR) - Ferrari - 1:50.470
As the race got underway, 33 cars swarmed the opening sector, with an additional 3 starting in the pits to make 36 total. At the head of the field it was an incredibly strong start by both Galaxy and Vermaak, with close fighting behind in the top 5, in AM, it became an early lead for Gabriel Rivera over David Kolařík, this would swap around within the first few laps as David Kolařík would retake the lead for AM. An early incident at the inner loop chicane saw damage for several at the back end of the field, including an early pit lane run in the opening lap for 5Star's Charlie Smith.
9 laps in, the fighting at the head of the field culminated in a well-laid overtake by Tylor Vermaak following a razor thin battle through sectors 1 and 2, the bulk of their fighting spurred from the previous lap, after a faster exit from Toe Corner (T7) Vermaak leapt to the inside at Heel (T8) to secure a lead within the first 20 minutes of racing. However, differences in fuel load meant that this fiery exchange would be the closest the two would be for the rest of the race, as Declan Anderson intercepted Fake Galaxy in the laps following.
On Lap 14, disaster struck in the AM division, as a stranded car - the #33 of Reuben Lewis - was caught in the path of the leading duo, David Kolařík and Gabriel Rivera, the resulting contact spun Kolařík, advancing Rivera to the lead with minor damages, Luca Tamborini of ITAM Racing entered 2nd, and Ruben Pinho entered 3rd.
Woes would continue in AM, as Gabriel Rivera miscalculated their fuel during their mandatory pit stop, resulting in a 2-stop strategy, this, coupled with a different strategy over Tamborini, saw Ruben Pinho to the division lead for the first race following his departure from TorqueLine Motorsport, Pinho, now a free agent, was presented with a real chance to see a first career victory in AM with 10 minutes to go.
Meanwhile, in PRO, Vermaak maintained a commanding lead of the race following his overtake on Galaxy, and attention shifted to Zsolt Beefgartner, who was one of 3 to start from the pits, it had been observed that Beefgartner's lap times matched the top 3, and the evidence was clear to see, as the Hungarian talent had soared up the order thanks to both an aggressive pit strategy and solid, consistent pace. Where he had originally planned to start 6th, Zsolt came from 36th to 5th over 80 minutes of the 90 minute race, this would rise to 4th following an overtake on Patrick Leger.
As the chequered flag rose in a dark and rainy New York, it was Tylor Vermaak to secure his first win of Season 7, and his (at the time of writing) 15th career win in the Sunday League, Anderson made it a 5Star 1-2, but with a controversial end following a side-by-side clash with Fake Galaxy for 2nd on the penultimate lap, that saw Galaxy into the wall at T11. Galaxy would nonetheless see a podium finish. In AM, Ruben Pinho secured their first division win with a bizarre ending, where in which Pinho collided with the wall off the exit of Turn 10, and would limp to the line in a damaged Porsche.
RACE SUMMARY (TOP 5)
PRO:
- Tylor VERMAAK (RSA) - Bentley - 5Star Esports
- Declan ANDERSON (GBR) - McLaren - 5Star Esports
- Fake GALAXY (AUT) - Ferrari - Euro Titans Endurance
- Zsolt BEEFGARTNER (HUN) - Lexus - NotLastRacing
- Kyle JENKINS (GBR) - Ferrari - 5Star Esports
AM:
- Ruben PINHO (POR) - Porsche - Privateer
- Parth DWIVEDI - Ferrari - Privateer
- Kaleb TAIT (USA) - Audi - Privateer
- Reuben LEWIS - Aston Martin - Privateer
- Edi FERNANDES (POR) - McLaren - Privateer
R3 also saw the promotion of multiple drivers from AM to PRO, and a single demotion from PRO to AM PROMOTIONS: David Kolařík, Tomas Minarcik, Arthur Beake, Luca Tamborini DEMOTIONS: Kaleb Tait
Round 4 will take the Sunday League grid to Catalonia to the home of the former Spanish GP, at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, live action and replays can be found exclusively via TRTN, through both Twitch and on demand on YouTube, full results can be found on the NLRL Simgrid, under "NLRL Sunday League Season 7 - Brought to you by TRTN"