Racekraft Esports driver Brian Lockwood eased to a dominant 7-second victory ahead of RBG Junior Esports driver Quentin Vialatte and CoreSimRacing driver Maxim Ramsteijn at the Zolder circuit.

Qualifying for the second Heat Races of the series, saw Brian Lockwood qualify on pole and take up his spot in the first Heat Race of the night. Lockwood commanded the lead ahead of Vialatte and Kuitert. The battle for the lucrative tenth place position, which ensures an immediate spot in the feature race, was between Dylan Birse, Thomas Guldalian and Jan Schmitz. After a superb 20 minutes of battling, Birse finally claimed tenth position. Meanwhile, it was a nervy end to the race for race winner Lockwood, running wide in the final lap which was somehow not enough for Vialatte to steal the win at the chequered flag.

Heat Race Two brought the highly anticipated resumption of the rivalry between Maxim Ramsteijn and Kevin Nielsen, providing a huge spectacle in round one. Ramsteijn, this time getting the better of Nielsen from lights out. Evolve Racing driver, Kamil Grabowski, also joined the risk versus reward battle, with 14 minutes left and ensured a three horse race for the top step on the podium. However, Ramsteijn and Nielsen had the edge on Grabowski and in the final laps, pin-point aggression and clean racing from both drivers, saw Ramsteijn keep hold of the lead to take the race win in Heat Two.

Gavin Halls and Chris Walsh, once again represented the PorscheSport Esports team, who were also crowned the Virtual Endurance Championship (VEC) winners and Creventic 12 Hours winners the day previously. Halls, achieving a consecutive ticket into the Feature Race finished ninth in Heat Race 2, whilst Chris Walsh, finishing 16th in the Consolation race just missed out on competing in the Feature Race.

An ‘All-Star’ Feature Race meant that Lockwood started on pole position, joined by Ramsteijn on the front row. Consolation Race winner Jake Robertson started in 21st . Lockwood capitalized as Ramsteijn battled with Vialatte and Nielsen. Ultimately the trio could not find the pace on Lockwood who had opened up a 3-second gap halfway into the 30-minute race.

Whilst in the mid-field and towards the back of the pack, Robertson spun, and Halls hit an unfortunate Rebecca Pauline, of Fiercely Forward, after making a mistake at the Villeneuve Chicane. As Brian Lockwood cruised to victory, the intense battle between Vialatte and Ramsteijn concluded as Vialatte produced a clean move out of the Kleine Chicane and up towards the hill on to take second place. Ramsteijn held onto third after sustaining the pressure from a frustrated Nielsen, who would have hoped to have extended his Championship lead further in this round.

Brian Lockwood: "I haven't had many drives like that this year, so I'm really happy to claim the race victory. There was a couple of moments where I made the slightest mistake, but other than that I thought it was a really good drive from my perspective. I found a nice rhythm and hopefully it's a sign of things to come in the PorsheSport Carrera Cup. I had huge advantage starting on pole, I only just beat Maxim (Ramsteijn) but it played a key role as overtaking is super difficult here. The feature race I got lucky as the guys behind were fighting for position so I was able to break and gap and just keep my head down for the victory."

Maxim Ramsteijn: "I didn't feel as strong this round, I'm happy to be on the podium of course but I was certainly struggling during the race. I was happy with qualifying but I didn't have the race pace so left me defending most of the time. I'm happy to to finish ahead of Kevin (Nielsen) as he is leading the championship."

Round Three should provide us with fascinating racing as the drivers prepare to ramp up the pace and make a name for themselves. The second season of the unmissable PorscheSport Esports Carrera Cup series continues at Imola on the 18th of April.

Standings

1. Kevin Nielsen, AXA SimSport: 150

2. Brian Lockwood, RaceKraft Esports: 150

3. Quentin Vialatte, R8G Junior eSports: 137

4. Gunonso Tasdelen, Team Anatolia: 135

5. Maxim Ramsteijn, CoRe SimRacing: 126

6. Alexander Lauritzen, AXA SimSport: 120

7. Jake Robertson, Apex Racing Team: 115

8. Sam Kuitert, RaceKraft Esports #2: 115

9. Florian Lebigre, R8G Junior eSports: 110

10. Pascal Costa, Impulse Racing: 105