Max wins first race Real Racers Never Quit at Spa-Francorchamps

Published on 24 March 2020 by Kees-Jan Koster

Max Verstappen won the first sim race of “Real Racers Never Quit by Team Redline”. The forty participants, each professional drivers, were racing Formula 3 cars at Spa-Francorchamps.

The second race, also on the Belgian circuit, was won by the South-African Kelvin van der Linde. But the biggest winners were the fans, who were able to see two enjoyable races with plenty of nice actions through the livestreams of Team Redline on live.teamredline.com.

Max won the first race relatively unthreatened, but was challenged a lot in all ten laps of the second race by his Formula 1 colleague Lando Norris. “Because Lando and I were busy racing each other, Kelvin was able to catch up. It was great fun. Just a shame that I touched the grass, on which you will lose all grip in iRacing.”, explains Max about the moment he eventually lost the win. “It was a nice race. Driving Formula 3 cars always brings a lot of joy and the field was very competitive.” After half an hour of free practice on the famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit, the forty drivers qualify within 2.5 seconds of each other, which indicates how competitive the field is. Max sets the third time (2:11.316) in the Dallara Formule 3 cars, only one and a half tenths from Lorenzo Colombo. Qualifying starts straight after, in which all drivers get two laps to qualify. Max qualifies third for the first race of the evening. Colombo takes pole, in front of Kelvin van der Linde. Lando Norris starts fourth, in front of Larry ten Voorde.

Max gets a good start at the first race on the Belgian circuit, and takes the lead at the end of the Kemmel Straight. Colombo follows, Ten Voorde is third. Norris falls back to P10. Antonio Felix da Costa spins in the second lap and falls back to P19. Here and there is some light contact during the fierce duels. Colombo comes close to Max in the fourth lap and puts some pressure on the Dutchman.

Rockenfeller and Montoya crash in the fifth lap when entering Les Combes, but as they cannot obtain damage in the game, they can continue the race. Norris is then in sixth position, setting the fastest lap (2:11.352). After seven laps the difference between the two leaders is only half a second. Ten Voorde and Daniel Juncadella follow in P3 and P4.

Colombo stays within the slipstream of Max, but is not able to get into a position to try an overtake him. After ten laps it is Max who wins the first race on Spa-Francorchamps. Juncadella finishes third with a respectable 3 seconds behind. Ten Voorde finishes fourth and Norris sixth.

Results round 1, race 1 – Real Racers Never Quit by Team Redline Also the second race of Real Racers Never Quit by Team Redline takes place on the circuit in the Belgian Ardennes. After the free practice there is again two laps of qualifying and this time the two Formula 1 drivers qualify on the first start row: Max starts from pole and Norris second within eight hundredths. The first 21 drivers qualify within one second which is the prelude to an exciting second race.

Max has again a good start and with five men wide the field gets to the end of the Kemmel Straight. The Dutchman can narrowly keep the lead from Norris, while Philipp Eng and Kelvin van der Linde are in a fierce battle for third position. Ten Voorde had a massive crash and falls back.

In the third lap Norris takes a slipstream and overtakes Verstappen into the lead. Now the roles are reversed, and it is Max his turn to hunt for the Brit. Halfway the fifth lap Max overtakes Norris. The duo is now a second ahead of Van der Linde in P3. Two laps later the roles are reversed again and Norris takes the lead. It is an enjoyable and exciting battle. With his nose in the diffuser of Norris, Max starts his eight lap and manages to overtake Norris again.

Meanwhile Van der Linde caught up with the two leaders as the three of them enter the penultimate lap. Max and Van der Linde hit each other lightly, causing Max to go wide, hitting the grass and spinning into Norris. Because of this Van der Linde manages to take the lead with only one and a half laps to go, and eventually he wins the race. Eng gets into second position, in front of Mikkel Jensen. Max finishes eventually in fourth position, because Norris is disqualified.

Next Wednesday 25th March at 21.00 follows the second event, of in total six rounds of Real Racers Never Quit. You can follow the race again live through live.teamredline.com. Click here for more information on the series.

Results round 1, race 2 – Real Racers Never Quit by Team Redline