Porsche factory driver Nick Tandy (Great Britain) won round four of the IMSA iRacing Pro Series on the virtual Road America circuit. The experienced British racing driver put in an inspired performance at the wheel of his virtual No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR to cross the finish line at the Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin track with a lead of 2.845-seconds. During the 90-minute race using the iRacing online racing simulation platform, Tandy kept out of trouble in the tight and at times turbulent race to notch-up the maiden victory for Porsche in the digital IMSA racing series. In the lead-up to the race, Tandy had garnered valuable tips from Joshua Rogers (Australia), the reigning champion of the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup.
Porsche Junior Ayhancan Güven (Turkey), however, was struck by major misfortune. After putting in a strong drive, the young driver was running in second-place behind his Porsche colleague Tandy. With approximately 19-minutes remaining in the race, his No. 913 Porsche 911 RSR sustained significant damages after making contact when a car he was lapping lost control directly in front of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup regular. Güven, who underlined his great skill as a sim racer by turning the fastest race lap by a convincing margin, was unable to continue. One of the most impressive performances came from the Japanese-American Shinya Michimi. The seasoned online driver born in Cincinnati, Ohio concluded the race in the Porsche 911 RSR entered by Meyer Shank Racing in fourth-place.
The reigning IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar GTLM class champions Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) and Earl Bamber (New Zealand) crossed the finish line in positions 21 and 24. Canada’s Robert Wickens celebrated a strong debut at the wheel of the virtual Porsche 911 RSR fielded by Pfaff Motorsports. The former DTM driver, who is fighting his way back into racing after a serious IndyCar accident, finished in 27th-place.
Round five of the IMSA iRacing Pro Series will be contested May 28 at the virtual VIRginia International Raceway.
Nick Tandy, Driver, No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR.
“That was great fun! If you’re competitive and win, that always puts you in a good mood, of course. I’ll go to bed tonight feeling very happy. I got a bit nervous during the last laps because I had a few glitches with my computer. The screen kept going blank, but it all turned out ok in the end. A huge thank you to Joshua Rogers. Our reigning champion of the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup gave me a lot of very helpful tips over the past few days. It paid off.”
Ayhancan Güven, Driver, No. 913 Porsche 911 RSR.
“Congratulations to Nick. I’m delighted about his first win. We were focused completely on preparing for this race, and obviously it worked very well judging by our strong performances. Unfortunately, I had bad luck. My race came to an end after I touched a backmarker. It’s a pity, but at least we gave fans a good show – and victory went to Porsche. That’s the most important thing.”