MOTORSPORT: carsales TCR eSport Cup resumes in Belgium tonight
Belgium circuit to host carsales eSport Cup with 40 startersReal-world TCR race winner Dylan O’Keefe will be out for online victory tonight when the carsales ARG eSport Cup resumes at Zolder in Belgium (Thursday).
O’Keefe is the eSport series leader after solid finishes in the opening double-header at Bathurst last week, and is lifting his game as he battles British Touring Car Championship winner Ash Sutton and Trans Am racer Nathan Herne.
The field for the tight-and-twisty Zolder circuit has been trimmed to 40 cars, down by a dozen from Mount Panorama, in a move to reduce incidents and improve the online feed for the event.
O’Keefe says he is fully committed to the eSport Cup and has been testing and tweaking at Zolder ahead of the races with the Audi RS3 TCR cars used by all competitors.
“I’ve had iRacing for a number of years but never raced properly with it until now. I’m second in the standings so I’m taking it seriously. Especially as we’re not racing anything else at the moment,” says O’Keefe.
“I’m looking to be consistent. I think I’ll be quick at this track, but I’m doing more practice.
“The main thing is to try and qualify well for the first race. It’s very easy to go off the track at Zolder, with all the chicanes.”
The field for Zolder retains the key drivers from the five ARG competition categories TCR Australia, S5000, Touring Car Masters, V8 Touring Cars and Trans Am, with a small group of special guests including carsales Editor-in-chief, Mike Sinclair.
The big-name drivers are led by reigning TCR champion Will Brown, who admits he had a tough introduction to the eSport Cup, Garth Tander, John Martin, Thomas Randle, Steven Johnson and George Miedecke.
For O’Keefe, who races a Renault Megane RS for Garry Rogers Motorsport, the switch to online competition has not been as difficult as he expected.
“I’ve only got a fixed simulator, not one of the full-on motion sims. But the car feels fairly realistic,” he says.
“The big difference is that the Audi we use has different gearing to my Renault and the Alfa I raced last year. And there is a lot of understeer at the start of the race, compared to oversteer in the real world.
“Still, it feels pretty good. You can really push it.”
The broadcast of Round 2 of the carsales ARG eSport Cup will start at 8pm tonight on youtube and the various ARG distribution platforms.
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