Max wins two races in second round of Real Racers Never Quit

Published on 24 January 2024 by Misha van der Kroon

Max Verstappen won two races during the second round of the Real Racers Never Quit championship and finished the last race of the day in P3. A week earlier, during the first round of the sim racing championship, driving a GT3 car, he finished P8. This time, the three-time Formula 1 World Champion competed in a Formula 3 car at Silverstone, and in a Formula 4 car at Mugello. He competed against sim racers from Team Redline, Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing, and drivers from the real motor racing world.

The first of two races will feature Dallara F3 cars on the virtual circuit of Silverstone. After twenty minutes of free practice, each driver gets four qualifying laps, and then drivers a 30-minute race. Max, competing in the colours of Verstappen.com Racing, and driving with the familiar number 33, will start the race from P4, while Chris Lulham will start the race from pole position.

In the opening phase of the race, Max manages to climb to P2, behind the current leader in the virtual championship Chris Lulham. After ten minutes and an intense battle, Max manages to take over the lead. He is unfortunately not able to get away and after light contact, he loses two places with just ten minutes to go. However, the Dutchman immediately makes up for it and reclaims the lead.

The top eight then drive around the circuit like a train, following each other closely. Due to a battle behind him, Max manages to create a gap and can relax a bit as the rest keeps fighting behind him. In the final phase of the race, the train manages to catch up with Max. He however does not back down and holds on to the lead, eventually winning the race ahead of Lulham in P2 and Diogo Pinto in P3.

“I had to work very hard for it,” Max said after the first race. “It was really fun, and we had some good battles. These cars are really good to race.”

Race three of the championship will take place on the virtual circuit of Mugello and will feature Formula 4 cars. Once again, the drivers have twenty minutes of free practice, then four laps to qualify. The race this time will be split into two heats of fifteen minutes, the last one with a reversed grid.

Max, this time driving with number 1, manages to qualify as fastest and will therefore start the first heat from pole position. For the second heat he will have to start from P10, because of the reversed grid that applies on the first ten drivers.

At the start of heat 1, Max gets away well and immediately creates a gap to Lulham in P2. The first four cars quickly form a leading group and get away from the rest. After a braking error entering the first corner, Max loses first place to Lulham, and then Kacper Sztuka also passes him. The Dutchman recovers quickly, and one lap later retakes the lead of the race.

In the final phase, it remains difficult for Max to break the slipstream which keeps the others close to him and makes the battle in the leading group exciting. Max however maintains the lead and takes his second win of the day, ahead of Lulham in P2 and Sztuka in P3.

In the second heat of the race, Max quickly manages to climb from P10 to P7. A crash by Luke Bennett created a gap of 1.7 seconds to Bonito in P6. Due to another crash, Max easily gains two places and halfway through the heat he is in P5, behind Lulham (P3) and Enzo Bonito (P4).

In the final phase of this heat, Max slowly closes the gap to the top four. Bonito and William Chadwick make contact and crash, making way for Max who climbs to P3. At the start of the last lap, Max joins the top two, which leads to the three cars racing wheel to wheel, next to each other, towards the finish line. Max is just a few centimetres short of winning this race as well, and finishes P3 behind Lulham, who wins the race, and Pinto in P2.

With the results of today, Max moves up to P2 in the championship, behind Lulham who is currently leading it.

The third round is scheduled for next Tuesday, 30 January at 18:00 Dutch time. Then the sim racers will drive an F3 car at the Virginia International Raceway, and an F4 car at Motorland Aragon.

Real Racers Never Quit is broadcasted live via Team Redline’s Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/teamredline