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Sprint Series Season II Round 1 Race Report – Zolder

January 12, 2022 By Peter Munkholm In GTR24H, News, Sprint Series, Team Members No Comments

Amir Hosseini was close to a perfect race at Zolder as he took the top step with almost a minute lead to last seasons champion Pierluca Amato. Right away from qualifying it was a clear battle for the win between Amato and Hosseini.

Sprint Series Season II – Zolder – Race Start

The race for the remaining podium places continued throughout the first half of the race. And after this, it was an all-out war for the last point giving positions.

Sprint Series Season II – Zolder – Vacirca and Barzaghi for tenth place

But even after that Barzaghi wasn’t done with the duelling for points as inside only three minutes, he was involved in another fight with Cerdi.

Sprint Series Season II – Zolder – Cerdi and Barzaghi for ninth place

This battle continued into the final lap …

Sprint Series Season II – Zolder – Cerdi and Barzaghi touch in turn four

The drivers did sort out the incident amongst themselves and Barzaghi took 9th ahead of Cerdi.

Post Race And Championship

Post-race interview revealed that there is a worry that the BMW M4 will be hit by Balance Of Performance when the real-life GT3 season takes off. And this season, the car choice is locked for the remainder of the season. If Boothby just keeps close to Hosseini and Amato for the first part of the season, that might give the McLaren driver a break and a chance for the championship. And let’s not forget Vacca was only 11 seconds off the podium in the Bentley. Conservative on the fuel and unimpressed by the curbs, the Bentley driver might repeat or even better the performance on Kyalami’s bumpy surfaces and wide curbs.

Sprint Series Season II – Race 1 Championship Standings

Kyalami

Kyalami opened to racing in November 1961 and had an almost 20-year streak on the Formula One calendar from 1967 to 1985 and two more races in 1992 and 93. The layout has been changed quite dramatically over the years. The last changes were carried out in 2015 and there is still hope for F1 to return to South Africa. And only the COVID-19 pandemic stopped the FIA World Endurance Championship from featuring a six-hour race at the circuit.

Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit, layout 2015 to present
(Credit: Dr Enslin – Own work)

Featuring a long straight, and a fairly long back-straight from turn 5 “Barbeque” through “sunset” to turn 7 “Clubhouse”, and an extra short front straight from turn 11 to 13 through turn 12 “Mineshaft”, there are plenty of good overtaking opportunities for modern-day GT3 cars.

And finally, if you missed it, or want to relive the action-packed race from Zolder, you will find the embedded YouTube live stream right here.

Tags: acc, esport, gtr24h, racing, simracing, SprintSeries

About The Author

Peter Munkholm

When John Nielsen won Le Mans 24-Hours in 1990, Peter was hooked with motorsports. He started sim racing on his uncles PC with Formula One Grand Prix by Geoff Crammond in 1992. Then progressed through IndyCar Simulator and IndyCar Simulator 2 on his Amiga 500+. When he bought his own PC in 1994 and a Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro Joystick he was already deeply in love with sim racing. His first skirmish with light modding was a Pernod Anis blue, white, and red skin for IndyCar Racing 2. He was hooked! But sim racing really kicked off for Peter with Sports Car GT in 1999. And with internet access and what felt like an ocean of mods. Sports Car GT and the F1 simulators with endurance racing mods swallowed most of his spare time. Then the GTR mod for F1 2003 arrived on the scene, from some Swedish dudes who called themselves SIMBIN. That would change everything! Right about then was also when Logitech steering wheels reach a state of useful. So when the GTR game officially released Peter bought a Formula Force GP wheel the same day, went home and founded the Danish Grand Touring League (DGTL). In 2006 the first LAN event was held. This became GTR24H in 2007. As they say. The rest is history!