Weekly Racing Roundup (6.8.20)

Kicera Takes Trans Am Esports Points Lead With Spa Win

Tyler Kicera moved into the lead of the Trans Am by Pirelli Esports Championship with a win as the series visited virtual Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday.

Kicera claimed his fourth win of the season in Race 1 by surviving mounting pressure from Josh Hurley, and a fourth-place finish in the second race was enough to secure him the championship lead.

He now has a six-point advantage over Hurley heading into the penultimate event at Bridgehampton Race Circuit this Saturday.

Dylan Archer logged his first Trans Am esports win in Race 2 after starting from pole. He lost the lead to Carl Rydquist on the opening lap but a switchback move at the Bus Stop followed by a solidifying pass at Eau Rouge put Archer back into the lead six laps later.

The inverted grid caused chaos for championship contenders Kicera and Hurley, who both fell back and could only finish fourth and eighth, respectively.

Esports News & Notes

***Matt Cresci claimed the RicmoTech iRacing Mazda MX-5 Cup championship with a victory in the season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Tuesday. Finishing on 127 points, Cresci completed the five-round season with a 28-point lead over Brian Lockwood, who could only manage a ninth-place finish this time.

***Most of the teams taking part in the upcoming virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans unveiled their liveries for the esports enduro last week.

***Highlights included Gulf Racing’s Porsche 911 RSR in the colors of Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers, the FA/RB Allinsports’ Oreca 07 Gibson’s striking blue, yellow and red livery, and Rebellion Racing’s collaboration designs with Williams Esports.

***Goodyear’s new branding at Circuit de la Sarthe will be shown for the first time this weekend at virtual Le Mans. The sections of branding will later be unveiled in real-life at the official 24 Hours Le Mans in September, marking the tire company’s return to the French endurance classic.

***French DJ The Avener will perform during the virtual race, echoing the live concerts that usually take place during the night of the real event. The Avener will perform a 45-minute live set at 11 p.m. CEST on Saturday.

***The hydrogen-powered LMP2HG prototype will serve as the pace car and safety car for the event.

Other News & Notes

***The International GT Open season-opener at the Hungaroring has been moved back two weeks. It will now take place on July 23-26, rather than July 9-12 as originally planned. The change was made at the request of the circuit, considering its plan to host the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix on July 19.

***The DTM will not open its season at the Norisring as originally planned, after the city of Nuremberg refused to let the event go ahead. A new 2020 calendar was issued two days after the series’ most recent schedule update, with Spa now set to kick off the campaign on August 1-2.

***An updated schedule for the DTM Trophy will see the GT4-level support series run alongside DTM at Spa-Francorchamps, Lausitzting, Nürburgring Grand Prix and Sprint, Zolder and Hockenheim between early August and November. A total of 20 cars representing six manufacturers have been registered for the series so far.

***Super GT has confirmed that it will not head to Buriram, Thailand for its season finale. The Japanese series will instead hold an event at Fuji on Nov. 28-29. It means that Fuji Speedway will be visited four times by Super GT this year, as part of a heavily revised schedule.

***Lamborghini Squadra Corse factory drivers Albert Costa and Franck Perera will share a car in ADAC GT Masters this year. The pair will drive a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo prepared by GRT Grasser Racing, which now has three entries signed up for the season.

***British GT outfit Optimum Motorsport tested its new McLaren 720S GT3 at Snetterton last week. MSV, which owns Snetterton and several other venues, started to reopen its tracks for testing purposes on May 26.

***Orange 1 FFF Racing Team continued its preparations for the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS season with a test at Paul Ricard late last week. Another recent visitor to Paul Ricard was Realteam Racing, which sampled its new Ligier JS P320 Nissan LMP3 car.

***The third installment of the Project Cars video game series has been announced and will enter the market this summer. A first taste of the Slightly Mad Studios title was presented in the reveal trailer, including shots of the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, Acura-Honda NSX GT3 and Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Daniel Lloyd contributed to this report