Andrews Wins Opening Round of IMSA iRacing Pro Series

Scott Andrews respected the bumps of virtual Sebring International Raceway, with the Australian winning the opening round of the IMSA iRacing Pro Series Presented by SimCraft on Thursday night.

Meanwhile, Philipp Eng benefited from the fuel misfortune of Robby Foley to capture first place in GT Le Mans in the first multi-class IMSA iRacing professional race.

Andrews, driving the No. 74 Dallara P217 Gibson for Riley Motorsports/R8G eSports, claimed the overall and LMP2 victory by 10.867 seconds over Daniel Morad in the No. 70 Alegra Motorsports/Moradness eSport Dallara.

Richard Heistand finished third in the No. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing/GazX Racing Team entry.

In GTLM, Eng battled back after falling to fifth place early in the one-hour race to win in the No. 89 BMW Team RLL/BMW Team USA BMW. He inherited the lead on the final lap when Turner Motorsport’s Foley ran out of fuel.

Eng crossed the finish line four seconds ahead of teammate and defending iRacing Pro Series champion Bruno Spengler in the No. 7 BMW. Nick Tandy brought the No. 4 Corvette Racing Corvette home in third.

It’s the second straight IMSA iRacing win for Andrews, who took honors in the Pro Series Preseason Invitational in January that featured only LMP2 entries.

Despite the sizable margin of his victory Thursday, Andrews said it wasn’t easy.

He credited developing a virtual setup with an engineer he worked with in the real-life 2020 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring for Thursday’s success.

It was in November when Andrews made his first DPi start with JDC-Miller Motorsports.

Eng started third in GTLM but dropped to fifth on the first lap. He’d driven his way back to second place and appeared destined for the runner-up finish until Foley’s car faltered as the white flag waved.

RESULTS: Sebring