A small anniversary in the World eX Championship: the main Race at Brands Hatch was the 100th in the unique sim racing community. Clear winner: Devin Braune.
The defending Champion and World Championship leader was in a class of his own on the difficult race track. In Qualifying, he took pole position in front of Chris Overend by eight-tenths of a second.
In the sprint with reversed grid, he needed only three laps to fight his way from eighth place on the grid to the top and win with an eight-second margin over Overend.
In the main Race, Braune celebrated a dominant lights-to-flag victory from pole position, 20 seconds ahead of Overend. It only got dramatic after the finish when Braune’s PC crashed and his eX ZERO crashed off the track out of control. “It’s hard to imagine what would have happened if that had happened just a few seconds earlier,” Braune shook his head.
The victory in the 100th race of World eX thus went to the driver who has been making his mark on the series for two years now. For Braune, it was already the 31st success in the unique Sim Racing Community.
Chris Overend secured second place both in the Sprint and in the Race at his home event. The local hero started for the first time with VR goggles – a very special experience for Overend.
In the Sprint, third place went to Bodo Kräling after Julius Martin and Steffen Walter missed the braking point into the Druids hairpin on the first lap. Walter clashed with Devin Braune on his way back onto the track. Walter later crashed on the start-finish straight.
In the main Race, Walter managed to overtake Julius Martin out of the slipstream on the start-finish straight and secure third place – a good consolation for the disappointing result in the Sprint.
Julius Martin finished both the Sprint and the Race in fourth place.
His brother Markus Martin had a fierce battle with Thomas Voigt in the Sprint race, which he managed to win with a robust manoeuvre on the last lap, pushing Voigt back from fifth place.
Bodo Kräling was unbeatable in the AM category, with his team colleague Frank Enger letting him pass right after the start of the main Race and not attacking again.
Jennifer Schamey competed in World eX for the first time. Devin Braune’s partner outpaced three regular drivers in qualifying and thus secured pole position for the sprint race. The 23-year-old showed promising pace, but made several small mistakes, eventually leaving her without points on her debut.
2024 Brands Hatch eX Prix Results
Qualifying
1 #42 Devin BRAUNE (PRO/Rocket Simsport) 1:09.106
2 #46 Chris OVEREND (PRO/T17 E-Speed) 1:09.917
3 #94 Julius MARTIN (PRO/Martin Racing Team) 1:10.447
4 #4 Björn SKOTTKE (AM/bspowersports) 1:10.512
5 #17 Steffen WALTER (PRO/T17 E-Speed) 1:10.532
6 #65 Frank ENGER (AM/bspowersports) 1:11.121
7 #3 Bodo KRÄLING (AM/bspowersports) 1:11.238
8 #102 Jennifer SCHAMEY (AM/Wild Card) 1:11.428
9 #7 Thomas VOIGT (AM/tv racing) 1:11.441
10 #43 Markus MARTIN (PRO/Martin Racing Team) 1:11.497
11 #8 Johannes MEINCK (AM/Martin Racing Team) 1:12.496
Sprint
1 #42 Devin BRAUNE (PRO/Rocket Simsport) 11 laps in 12:59.851
2 #46 Chris OVEREND (PRO/T17 E-Speed) + 8.476
3 #3 Bodo KRÄLING (AM/bspowersports) + 16.024
4 #94 Julius MARTIN (PRO/Martin Racing Team) + 17.194
5 #43 Markus MARTIN (PRO/Martin Racing Team) + 26.877
6 #7 Thomas VOIGT (AM/tv racing) + 27.563
7 #8 Johannes MEINCK (AM/Martin Racing Team) + 27.762
8 #17 Steffen WALTER (PRO/T17 E-Speed) + 28.095
9 #4 Björn SKOTTKE (AM/bspowersports) + 47.952
10 #102 Jennifer SCHAMEY (AM/Wild Card) + 53.208
11 #65 Frank ENGER (AM/bspowersports) 4 laps, DNF
Fastest lap: #42 Devin BRAUNE (PRO/Rocket Simsport) 1:09.595
Race
1 #42 Devin BRAUNE (PRO/Rocket Simsport) 21 laps in 24:36.070
2 #46 Chris OVEREND (PRO/T17 E-Speed) + 20.637
3 #17 Steffen WALTER (PRO/T17 E-Speed) + 35.459
4 #94 Julius MARTIN (PRO/Martin Racing Team) + 36.331
5 #3 Bodo KRÄLING (AM/bspowersports) + 44.827
6 #65 Frank ENGER (AM/bspowersports) + 50.216
7 #43 Markus MARTIN (PRO/Martin Racing Team) + 54.347
8 #8 Johannes MEINCK (AM/Martin Racing Team) + 54.981
9 #7 Thomas VOIGT (AM/tv racing) + 1:07.147
10 #4 Björn SKOTTKE (AM/bspowersports) + 1:08.686
11 #102 Jennifer SCHAMEY (AM/Wild Card) – 1 lap
Fastest lap: #42 Devin BRAUNE (PRO/Rocket Simsport) 1:09.506
Standings after 7 of 10 Rounds
1 #42 Devin BRAUNE (PRO/Rocket Simsport) 214
2 #94 Julius MARTIN (PRO/Martin Racing Team) 119
3 #3 Bodo KRÄLING (AM/bspowersports) 103
4 #46 Chris OVEREND (PRO/T17 E-Speed) 101
5 #17 Steffen WALTER (PRO/T17 E-Speed) 96
6 #43 Markus MARTIN (PRO/Martin Racing Team) 67
7 #18 Jarno WIESE (PRO/WIWI Racing Team) 52
8 #71 Nicolas HILLEBRAND (PRO/Biela Racing Team EURONICS) 40
9 #4 Björn SKOTTKE (AM/bspowersports) 40
10 #65 Frank ENGER (AM/bspowersports) 35
11 #96 Patrik BARBULESCU (AM/tv racing) 25
12 #88 Alessandro OTTAVIANI (PRO) 24
13 #7 Thomas VOIGT (AM/tv racing) 23
14 #8 Johannes MEINCK (AM/Martin Racing Team) 19
15 #23 Dominik HEUSSEN (AM/T17 E-Speed) 9
16 #21 Jurgen VAN BERGEN (PRO/Race Clutch) 4
17 #14 Yvonne HOUFFELAAR (AM/United Sim Team) 2
18 #85 Hamish EASENER (PRO/Hamish Easener Racing) 2