Friday nights debut Four Class Porsche 2 Hour iRacing event presented by Simracersworld at Silverstone and sponsored by Strasse – provided plenty of twists, turns and thrills in what turned out to a successful event featuring World class professional race drivers and sim racers. The busy grid featured Le Mans winners, IMSA WeatherTech and Pirelli World Challenge drivers along with top class World ranking sim drivers.

In LMP1 the G-Drive Racing Eximia LMP1 #1, driven by Maarten van Loozenoord & Jeroen Kweekel, claimed the race lead early and stayed out front the rest of the way to take a well-deserved win. The opening stages of the race resulted in a tightly contested battle for first place between the two G-Drive LMP1 cars until 31 minutes into race when the number 2 car ran wide overtaking the GTE filed and spun the car resulting in contact with the wall allowing the sister car to gain a commanding lead over the rest of the field. There were also tightly contested battles further down with an entertaining contest for third place with only 4 seconds between third and fifth place but after a thrilling 2 hour race it was the G-drive who took the win with Fiercely Forward taking second one lap ahead of CQR Club racing in third.

Maarten van Loozenoord G-Drive Eximia: “We had a lot less trouble in this race compared to the Le Mans race, we did not make any mistakes during this race and managing the mistakes is what you need to do take the win. We don’t usually drive the LMP1 cars in our Esports series but the difference between the LMP1 cars and the GT4 cars was just insane it felt like you were passing standing cars so in the beginning of the race it was a handful to get used to but further into the race we got used I was getting used to managing all the traffic, it was a good race”.

In real life the GTE battle is always fiercely contended so it stands to reason, that the Porsche RSR’s would be strong at the virtual Silverstone event, which they were.

The GTE battle was everything it lived up to be with drama on the very first lap after a misunderstanding resulted in Maxwell Root in the Pink Pig livered Porsche RSR jump start the rest of the filed resulting in a disqualification for the American driver. Jurgen Frank who started on Pole in the SimRc.de Titan car was spun out by the G-Drive RSR on the very first lap that later resulted in a drive through penalty for the GTE G-Drive team. I think it’s safe to say that everyone knew that the GTE battle was going to be very tight and by the thirty-minute mark only a 3 seconded gap separated the top five.

There was plenty of action with cars spinning, close calls and fantastic battles throughout the GTE filed during the full 2 hours t it was the G-Drive Eximia GTE #1 RSR, driven by Bram van Putten, entry that took the win with SimRC.de Titan, driven Jurgen Frank & Felix Luding second and Meraki Racing driver PJ Claeysens, taking the third place podium.

The same can also be said for the GTC class that kept everyone entertained for the full 2 hours of the race, nothing separated the top four for the first hour and even after the pits stops no one could have predicted the final outcome at this stage. The Strasse entry was looking promising for the challenge on third place until a huge incident resulted in heavy damage after the LMP1 of Banzoo RX Flo car collided hard into the back of the GTC car lifting it off the ground sending Josh Camm into a spin. But it was HM Engineering, driven by Kieran Harrison, who went on to take the win with Meraki Racing having a successful race taking second with Lewis Ward and third with Tom Metherell in their two car entry.

Jordon Weaks HM engineering: “What a fun event in a Championship event I think may have been a little bit disappointed with the result, but it was a fun event. Both the GTE and the GTC cars where very equally matched but the LMP cars were supper fast but I would like to thank everyone who has brought the race to us today”.

Anyone who thought that the GT4 Class was going to be easy soon found themselves mistaken not only did they find themselves in a competitive filed of professional drivers they also had to contend with traffic from the faster classes especially the LMP1 class who by lap 2, where already starting to lap them. The drivers had to work hard negotiating moves to overtake while also avoiding any contact with the other faster classes approaching from both sides. The battle raged on in GT4 right up to the final laps with HM Engineering capping of there day with a one two finish thanks to Norbert Leitner & Maxim Ramsteijn with the G-Drive Racing Eximia driver Ben Thaens finishing off in third place.

Ian Roots Simracersworld: “If you had told me a week ago I was going to put on a event like this in less than a week I would have told you that you where mad but with Lukes help from Porschesport and assistance and on the job training between us both we have managed to shake 50 drivers out of their beds, out of their pits, out of their lockdowns and onto the track at Siverstone, its been a absolutely fantastic event it really has. I just what thank Porschesport for the partnership and if we get the chance to do it again I will not turn it down, it’s been a fantastic evening of motorsport.

Watch race replay: 2 Hour of Silverstone