Sensational IMSA Esports Global Championship season-opener at Road Atlanta.

URANO eSports Datagroup takes home a surprise win in the GTP class.
Heavy traffic at Road Atlanta with a total of 46 cars on track.
GTD victory for Mercedes-AMG Apex Racing Team with a nail-biting finish.

The first race of the IMSA Esports Global Championship season saw 21 GTP and 25 GTD cars, with two drivers each, take on the legendary Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. The teams had been eagerly awaiting the first of a total of four rounds in the season. Even though it was an intense race with a lot of traffic to handle due to the two different classes on track, the professional drivers managed to keep incidents to a minimum.

In the GTP class, URANO eSports Datagroup managed to come out on top thanks to a well-thought-out tactic and defensive driving. Jonas Wallmeier & Dominik Hofmann started in P13. They capitalised on penalties for BMW M Team Redline & Williams Esports and managed to claw their way through the field to take the win. Here’s the reaction from winner Jonas Wallmeier: “We stayed clean all race, so in the end we came out on top after a bad qualifying. The traffic was insane, it was super close sometimes. Sometimes you need to lift and stay patient, it’s not easy. So yeah, pretty good win, I would say.”

Mercedes-AMG Apex Racing Team took the top spot in the GTD class, converting their pole position from qualifying. Alejandro Sanchez & Luke McKeown maintained the lead in the beginning thanks to favourable traffic. In the final minutes of the race a nail-biting chase ensued with Team Redline’s Ole Steinbraten catching up to within a car’s length in the last lap. Alejandro Sanchez on the end of the race: “It got very tight at the end, but Luke did a superb job as he always does, and we managed to get the win.” Luke McKeown added: “I wasn’t getting too worried (…) because he was gaining a lot but not enough basically, so I kind of knew in my head that it’s going to be fine. But I definitely was feeling it when it got to about 1 to 1.5 seconds.”

The second race of the season will take place at Watkins Glen on Sunday, Nov 12^th.

Live from 19:30 CET on twitch.tv/iracing and youtube.com/@imsaofficial.

You can rewatch the first race of the season here:

IMSA Official YouTube: https://youtu.be/watch?v=L5tFNhB9Lkw

iRacing Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1969600071

About VCO

Virtual Competition Organisation (VCO) brings together different stakeholders in Esports, from simulation or gaming platforms and interested partners to active teams, drivers and the community. In a rapidly growing sector, VCO stands for professionalism, focus and a broad media presence. With its international network, VCO provides solutions for the best possible conception and implementation of Esports projects of all kinds. The best teams in the world compete in such high-class competitions as the Esports Racing League (ERL), VCO INFINITY and the FLExTREME championship, which VCO implements on a wide range of gaming and simulation platforms.

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