Schiavon Leads BMW Podium Lockout in Blancpain Endurance
February 25th, 2016 by Paul Slavonik
After 10 Rounds of GT3 competition in iRacing’s Blancpain Endurance Series, the final two events are upon us as the series departs from Phillip Island.
Leaving behind a stellar performance with the hopes of keeping the momentum moving forward, Riccardo Schiavon of TeamGT-RS grabbed top honors with a dominant victory at Phillip Island in his BMW Z4 GT3.
Accruing only a single incident point over the race weekend, Schiavon was on target as he navigated the sweeping corners of the Australian circuit with stunning precision.
Currently sitting in fifth in the standings at the moment with 1287 points, it should be stated that Schiavon has only started in eight of the 10 events this season. As such, expect drop weeks to be taken into account with the final weeks unfolding as the Italian driver looks to take the top step of the championship.
GermanSimRacing.de
Taking the second step of the podium (and currently third in the championship) is GermanSimRacing.de. With Sergio Medina and Maximilian Wenig behind the wheel of their own BMW, the duo finished second to Schiavon in the top Strength of Field race (SoF 3159).
Despite the fact that they were over 30 seconds behind, Medina and Wenig still managed to grab 192 championship points for their team which are much needed for their championship endeavors.
A new threat
Rounding out the final step of the Round 10 podium was Shinya Michimi. A solo driver, Michimi cemented the BMW lockout with his podium finish after coming in second in a separate SoF race.
A relative newcomer to the weekly Blancpain Endurance podium, Michimi has an illustrious sim-racing (as well as real racing) career which he would undoubtedly like to improve upon. With a strong podium finish along with 189 championship points, Michimi certainly looks to be a real threat in the coming seasons.
Change is in the air
As we venture closer to the start of Season 2, there are many changes on the horizon. The most anticipated, of course, will be the arrival of two new GT3 cars – the Mercedes AMG GT3 and the Audi R8 LMS GT3. Additionally, we will see the rollout of DX11 along with several added features such as flashing headlights. For more details on the coming update as well as some insight into the future of iRacing, be sure to check out Inside Sim Racing’s video interview with iRacing’s President, Tony Gardner.
Lord of The Ring
As iRacing’s Blancpain Endurance Series heads into Round 11, the series makes its debut appearance at iRacing’s most recent addition, the Nürburgring. A legend in and of itself, the Nürburgring BES/WEC configuration is a 3.2 mile circuit consisting of 16-turns which will certainly test the best of drivers as this punishing track dishes out both victory and judgement over the course of three-hours.
With only two weeks remaining, Odox Motorsport BES currently holds the lead with 1469 points followed by TeamGT (1391) and GermanSimRacing.de (1371). With two of the most difficult tracks remaining this season, however, nothing is carved in stone just yet.