BMW Z4 GT3s of the virtual variety finished first and third on the simulated Nürburgring Nordschleife in “the iRacing 24h Nürburgring powered by VCO,” a 24-hour sim race run on April 25 and 26.
The six-hour qualifying race for the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring was originally scheduled for the last weekend in April. But with the 24-hour Race postponed until September and the qualifying race canceled, sim racing was the only way for competitors to get on the Nordschleife over the weekend. The Munich-based Virtual Competition Organization that provided the opportunity notes that the event drew over 1,400 teams and 5,000 competitors; participants were split into multiple run groups.
After 175 virtual laps, Philipp Eng, Laurin Heinrich, and Alexander Voss took the win in the #089 BS+Competition BMW Z4 GT3. They took the lead with about four hours remaining and went on to finish less than 30 seconds ahead of the Mahle Racing Team Audi R8 LMS piloted by Sami-Matti Trogen, Dominik Staib, Agustin Canapino, and Alex Arana. Bruno Spengler, Nils Koch, and Kay Kaschube in the #7 BS+Competition Z4 GT3 rounded out the podium.
Eng said, “I’m totally exhausted, but I’m also extremely happy. This success is one for the books, and is perhaps one of my biggest wins in addition to my real 24-hour races. I’m fortunate to have such fantastic teammates in Alex and Laurin. Not only are they super fast, but they also don’t make even the smallest of mistakes. That’s more than impressive. It was the first ever 24-hour race for our team BS+Competition, and we got the win at the first time of asking—I couldn’t be happier. It’s also really cool that, even in these circumstances, we still can write headlines for BMW.”—Brian Morgan
[Photo courtesy BMW Motorsport.]
