It’s been a busy weekend for the Australians flying the national flag in their respective international virtual competitions, with a number of drivers securing race wins and round victories.
Porsche Carrera Cup veteran Marc Cini led the Aussie charge thanks to his round win and podium placing in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Virtual Edition’s final two rounds, his results enough to secure the ProAm Category’s outright class title.
Racing for Team Australia alongside Stephen Grove, Jordan Love and Joey Mawson, Cini had been highly consistent throughout the eight round series and was the only driver in the class to finish on the ProAm podium in every round.
With his two class wins being in the first and last round of the series, Cini praised Porsche and iRacing for putting together a quality series in the midst of the current COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was a bit of fun. I had never done iRacing before, but I learned pretty quickly that it’s about surviving in these events. It’s really important. Survive the first lap and you’ll do alright,” Cini said.
“I didn’t take it too seriously and I had a lot of fun taking part. The reality of fear is a wonderful thing, which is the big difference between racing on a sim and in real life.
“I do need to commend iRacing for having produced an IT platform which is incredibly precise in its feel and track dynamics. The cars themselves were spot on too.
“Racing in the series has been a nice substitute. It’s kept us in touch and has taken my mind of the obvious issues. It also gave us something to look forward to, which is a feeling not dissimilar to waiting for a race meeting.”
Out of the remaining Australians in the series, Jordan Love had the next best weekend with the 2019 Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup winner securing a final round rookie class podium – his first for the series.
While Mawson or Grove didn’t have success in the final round, both had enjoyed successful spells earlier in the competition, with Mawson grabbing an outright podium in the sixth round and Grove enjoying a ProAm win and podiums in the opening four rounds.
Meanwhile, 2019 RSEA Safety Motorsport Australia Rally Championship (ARC) runner-up Lewis Bates enjoyed another group victory in the Gran Turismo Supra GT Cup.
Set at the Nürburgring 24h course, Bates qualified fastest out of the 20 competing drivers, before comfortably leading the two-lap race from start to finish, making it two group wins in a row for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia driver.
Also taking part was 2019 ARC champion and Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia teammate Harry Bates, who finished an impressive seventh place after starting the race in 15th.
The next round of the Gran Turismo Supra GT Cup will be at the Circuit de La Sarthe in France on 7 June.
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