Michael Niemas remains unbeaten in the new RCCO E-Sport Series. On the Circuit des 24 Heures in Le Mans, the model building artist also won rounds five and six of the virtual electric racing series with his Audi e-tron Vision Gran Turismo.
However, Niemas had to fight hard for victory in the first race, after he braked too late at Arnage on the first lap and ran through the gravel. Niemas dropped back to sixth place and needed five laps to fight his way back to the top.
In the second race, Niemas managed a commanding lights-to-flag victory. Curious: The series winner crossed the finish line in the pit lane. “I thought we’d do ten laps in the second race as well, that’s why I came to the pits for a tyre change after five laps as scheduled. Only then did I realize that the race was already over.”
Alongside Michael Niemas, Bettina Schuller was particularly brilliant at Le Mans. The only woman on the grid of the RCCO E-Sport Series was leading for a long time in the first race and took her first RCCO podium with third place. The performance of the 26-year-old was even more impressive in the second race: after a skirmish on the start lap she dropped back to seventh place, fought her way forward place by place and finally crossed the finish line in second place behind Niemas. “I was very lucky with the track raffle because I practiced Le Mans for two hours in the afternoon,” said Schuller. “That paid off.”
Stefan Waschow, with second place in the first race, achieved a podium finish, which Mike Rockenfeller narrowly missed in the second race. The Audi DTM driver competed for the first time in the RCCO E-Sport Series and had to race with a controller. “I learned a lot, but had a lot of trouble controlling the car, especially when braking. But it was a lot of fun. For next time I’ll upgrade and drive with the steering wheel and pedals.”
After he was glad not to be last in the first qualifying session, “Rocky” continued to improve throughout the two races. In a chaotic last lap of the second race, in which positions in third, fourth, fifth and sixth changed several times, the Audi factory driver just missed the podium at his RCCO E-Sport debut.
Andreas Zschorsch was satisfied as well: The BILD editor only narrowly missed the podium in fourth place in the second race at his debut in the RCCO E-Sport Series.
The RCCO E-Sport Series continues on 11 May.