MOTORSPORT: Carnage as eSports racers debut at Bathurst

British touring car championship front-runner Ash Sutton was the surprise first winner of the carsales ARG eSport Cup at Bathurst.

Sutton converted a front-row start into victory and, thanks to a solid result in the second reverse-grid race, sits third in the championship behind Trans Am young gun, Nathan Herne, and real-world Renault TCR racer, Dylan O’Keefe.

The second race was won by New Zealander Rowan Shepherd, who raced TCR in a Volkswagen Golf in Europe last year and was never headed as the top 26 finishers were reversed for the second Bathurst battle.

“Mega first race, managing to take the win after ruining my qualifying lap,” says Sutton, who became the youngest BTCC champion when he took the title in 2016.

“Race 2 I was unfortunately caught up in an incident and had to put for damage repairs. Still, we come away third in the championship.”

A giant 52-car grid of virtual Audi RS3 LMS racers ensured wild action and some giant crashes as the first of Australia’s virtual race series began during the coronavirus shutdown.

One of the casualties was Garth Tander, who was making his iRacing debut while driving the MPC simulator at the Audi race team’s base in Melbourne.

“I got launched into orbit. If it had been the real world I probably would be talking from hospital,” Tander laughed.

“That was my first online race so it’s definitely a challenge. There’s a lot to get your head around. I had to learn on the run.

“But I knew that going in, so it’s what I expected. I didn’t have any qualifying speed but my race pace was good.”

Tander was quickest qualifier in the aborted start to this year’s carsales TCR Australia Series championship at Albert Park last month and he faced many of his real-world rivals in the iRacing contest.

Dylan O’Keefe, a real-world Renault Racer, was one of the best and started the first race from pole position and swapped places with Sutton through the first race. Last year’s series runner-up, Tony D’Alberto, decided commentating the online feed was better than competing.

There were several guest drivers including carsales Editor-in-Chief Mike Sinclair, a Bathurst 12-Hour class winner.

“Let’s say my first iRacing experience was eventful. I managed to get a decent start in race one and avoid the carnage but then tripped of my own making and the rest was a disaster,” he says.

“It’s pretty clear why people get hooked on iRacing though – especially using a full-motion sim like the Motum unit. It really felt like I was there… crashing my brains out… ”

The next round of the carsales ARG eSport Cup will be held at Zolder in Belgium next Thursday, (April 9), starting at 8pm AEST, with drivers switching to Formula 3 cars similar to the single-seaters used for real-world S5000 racing.