The final week of group stage action in the V10 R-League was full of wild racing and amazing action.
With playoff spots on the line, teams were desperate to reel in crucial points and secure themselves a bigger slice of the £120,000 prize fund!
Week 5 hosted some titanic battles as the fastest sim racers in the world did battle.
These are the best moments from the week of racing, presented by Thrustmaster.
Pitstop problems
Sim racing not only features all the challenges of a real race, but also technical ones. This was shown in the race between McLaren and JAESA Suzuki during the relay race at Silverstone.
JAESA driver Kamil Pawlowski pulled into the pitlane and then warped into his pitbox rather than trundling down the pitlane as normal. The result was a moment of hesitation and a slow exchange for JAESA Suzuki, allowing McLaren to build a comfortable lead in the first race of the match.
Spa battle
Redline & Aston Martin faced off with the winner taking the top Group A, and that all-important bye into the Semi-Final.
The team race at Spa saw an epic battle between Aston Martin’s star man Lucas Blakeley and Redline’s Jeffrey Rietveld through the Les Combes chicane and beyond.
Side-by-side at the top of the Kemmel Straight, Blakeley was able to get past the Redline car through the chicane, only to put a wheel wide on exit and open the door for Rietveld. The Dutchman didn’t need a second invitation, and dashed alongside Blakeley once more, taking the inside line for the next corner and re-claiming second place.
The big squeeze
In the biggest upset of the season so far, Red Bull was denied a playoff place by R8G Esports. The French outfit was already eliminated from playoff contention but were determined to show their speed against Red Bull.
In the relay race around Silverstone they did just that, and as the corners dwindled Graham Carroll went for an audacious move around the outside of R8G driver Erhan Jajovski through Stowe.
Jajovski wasn’t having it and gave Carroll a big squeeze, forcing the Red Bull man off the circuit. Normally that isn’t too bad as there is plenty of run-off, but the pair ran side-by-side so long the grass eventually took its toll and Carroll spun out.
Muscled out
Anything can happen at Monza, and it usually does! The first corner is especially dangerous, and in the Redline/Aston Martin match there was carnage on the opening lap.
Rietveld defended the inside line, forcing Blakeley to the outside, but Redline driver Enzo Bonito was already there, while Shanaka Clay in another Aston Martin tried to steal a march on the inside.
The result was Blakeley being utterly sandwiched between Clay and Bonito, and forced to bounce his way over the kerbing tied up with Bonito.
The two found the track again, but with their braking so heavily compromised Blakeley ended up in the side of Rietveld. In the end the Aston Martin man would drive off in the lead of the race!
Last chance saloon
Fordzilla and Williams battled it out for the last playoff spot in Group B, and in the team race at Silverstone the pressure began to tell.
Entering the final corner on the penultimate lap, Fordzilla driver Emre Cihan went for a move on Williams’ Kuba Brzezinski. It didn’t quite work, but it drew the pack together for the final lap.
Cihan and Brzezinski would again clash through Village and The Loop, and eventually Cihan clipped the rear of Brzezinski, not only spinning the Williams driver, but sending him into teammate Martin Stefanko!
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