URANO eSports, Apex Racing Team score class wins in IMSA Esports Global Championship opener at Road Atlanta

The opening round of the 2023 IMSA Esports Global Championship is in the books after a wild couple of hours around Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on Sunday afternoon. 46 teams of two drivers took to the grid across two classes to kick off the second season of competition in the series backed by IMSA, VCO, and Michelin.

Two compelling class races took place, both with their own unique stories to follow through the two hour and 40 minute event around the 12-turn, 2.54-mile course in Braselton, GA. The premier GTP class saw the #90 URANO eSports Datagroup BMW take the checkers, while the GTD class had the #101 Apex Racing Team Mercedes-AMG score the win in a close battle to the line.

The URANO duo of Dominik Hofmann and Jonas Wallmeier, filling in this week for Daniel Alves Lourenco, started 13th on the grid and worked up to third in GTP before the final pit stop. Both of the teams ahead of them wound up with a drivethrough penalty, which led to the #90 team taking control late in the game. Meanwhile, in the GTD battle, Apex’s combination of Alejandro Sánchez and Luke McKeown was a dominant one, as they led from the drop of the green from the class pole position. Coming to the close, however, Ole Steinbraten erased the gap and made the battle for the win intense in the #170 Team Redline Ferrari. Steinbraten had a look on the final lap, but McKeown was able to hold him off to claim the win.

The fastest lap in GTP qualifying went to Edoardo Leo in the #43 Altus Esports Cadillac, while Sánchez was the top qualifier in GTD for the #101. At the green flag, chaos erupted before and into the first corner. Teams such as #3 CrowdStrike Racing, #15 Race Clutch, #69 DRAGO Racing, #18 Wave Italy Racing Team, and #64 Satellite Racing would fall behind from the get go, while #43 Altus Esports, #71 for BMW M Team Redline, #91 VRS Porsche Coanda and #11 Williams Esports BMW all drove away without issue.

On Lap 13, Diogo Pinto took the lead and began to pull away in the #71 car. By the first pit stop cycle, the #90 URANO car had managed to get up to fourth. They moved into a podium position on Lap 55 as the #43 car which already lost the second spot through the cycle to the #11 Williams Esports BMW, began to fade. Before the second round of stops, Hofmann was running the fastest laps in the #90 car, shrinking the gap to about 10 seconds to the top two cars.

Meanwhile, the #91 and #92 Porsches for VRS Coanda were opting for an alternate strategy and one less pit stop than their peers. While the #71 pitted on laps 41, 74 and 105, the #91 and #92 stretched their fuel to laps 46 and 93, running on fumes when the checkers flew on Lap 140. The alternate strategy allowed for the #91, with Charlie Collins and Laurin Heinrich, to cross the line in third, but after post-race penalties, they were placed in sixth, just ahead of the #92 of Zac Campbell and substitute Michael Romanidis in seventh.

While the GTP class sorted their fuel strategies for the end of the race, the GTD class was straightforward, with everyone on the same strategy to pit twice, usually around 40 laps or so into a stint in a race that went 122 total laps in the time limit. Sánchez was lights out in the #101 Mercedes-AMG, leading their Apex Racing Team teammates Alex Dunne and Salva Talens in the #199 BMW for most of the show.

In the final stint, the #170 car, which switched from Gianni Vecchio to Steinbraten, went on the charge. On the 103rd lap in the GTD class, Steinbraten made a daring move to the outside of Talens in the #199 to take the second position. For the final 20 laps, Steinbraten’s goal was to erase the five second gap between him and the leader, and with about six minutes to go, he was in McKeown’s mirror.

Back in GTP, penalties started coming down the order, starting with the overall leaders in the #71, now with Chris Lulham behind the wheel. After serving their drivethrough penalty, that handed the lead to the #11, wheeled by Josh Lad at the start and Matt Farrow to close it out. Their gap to the #90 was about 15 seconds, but that went away when they were handed their own drivethrough penalty. Wallmeier didn’t make the same mistake in the #90, keeping things clean until the checkers flew to claim the win.

As faster GTP traffic worked to get by them, Steinbraten pressured McKeown in the final laps for the GTD win. On Turn 7 of the final lap, Steinbraten’s last chance at a dive was extinguished when he came off of the corner worse for wear than McKeown, who brought it home in one piece for the win.

IMSA Esports Global Championship GTP results from Race #1 at Road Atlanta were as follows:

IMSA Esports Global Championship GTD results from Race #1 at Road Atlanta were as follows:

Each class has a maximum of 385 points available, with 350 going to the class winners and an additional 35 points for the top qualifying team. While the #101 GTD was able to secure max points in the opening round, the #90 GTP walks away with 368 points after only qualifying in 13th. They will lead the championship heading into the second round by 20 points over the #11. In GTD, #101 will lead #170 by 33 points as the series heads to Watkins Glen in a week’s time.

IMSA Esports Global Championship GTP points through Round 1 are as follows:

1. #90 URANO eSports Datagroup, 368
2. #11 Williams Esports, 348
3. #71 BMW M Team Redline, 332
4. #43 Altus Esports, 315
5. #91 VRS Coanda, 280

IMSA Esports Global Championship GTD points through Round 1 are as follows:

1. #101 Mercedes-AMG Team ART, 385
2. #170 Team Redline, 352
3. #199 Apex Racing Team, 330
4. #102 Virtualcoach.gg by GnG, 308
5. #190 Mercedes-AMG URANO eSports, 280

The next race in the four race season is this weekend as the series heads to Watkins Glen on Sunday, November 12. A new venue to the series in upstate New York, another two hours and 40 minutes will be scheduled around the 11-turn, 3.45-mile circuit.

Each race of the IMSA Esports Global Championship will be broadcasted live on IMSA’s and iRacing’s YouTube, Facebook and Twitch social media channels with the “Countdown to Green” pre-race show beginning at 1:45PM ET.

For more information on the IMSA Esports Global Championship, visit iracing.com/imsa-esports. For more information about the Virtual Competition Organisation (VCO), visit vco-esports.com. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit iracing.com.

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