Heitkotter Takes Another Dominant GT Rivals Win at Spa

Image: ACC

Bryan Heitkotter picked up his third SRO GT Rivals victory in four races on Sunday with another commanding drive at virtual Spa-Francorchamps.

The gamer-to-racer took his No. 05 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 to a 24.780-second win over sim racer Dirk Groenveld, of Champion Motorsports, in the 60-minute contest on Assetto Corsa Competizione.

While having qualified second, Heitkotter took the lead at the start when pole-sitter Christian Szymczak struggled off the line in his No. 34 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Szymczak was later served a drive-through penalty for an illegal pass, which dropped the Pirelli GT4 America competitor to ninth at the time.

Teammate Kenny Murillo appeared set to complete the podium but faded in the closing laps to fifth.

It promoted open-wheel rising star Dakota Dickerson to third, with Karl Wittmer finishing fourth in the No. 22 HPD GT3 Driver Academy Acura NSX GT3 Evo.

Szymczak, meanwhile, came home sixth after a late charge in his Mercedes.

A number of other contenders hit trouble or were handed penalties in the race.

It included Kevin Boehm, who started from the rear of the field due to Internet connectivity issues before colliding with James Pesek that resulted in a massive accident at Eau Rouge.

Guy Cosmo, in his most competitive outing so far, was given a drive-through penalty for contact with the No. 44 Techsport Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Kevin Anderson.

Cosmo was classified 10th in his No. 8 K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3.

Round 5 of GT Rivals takes place on Sun. May 10 at virtual Suzuka Circuit…

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John