The group stages have hit the halfway point, and Season 3’s title contenders are starting to flex their muscle in the V10 R-League!
Week three saw four crucial matchups as teams look to qualify for the playoffs and their shot at the live finals in Abu Dhabi in July.
In Group A Season 1 runners-up Williams Esports took on Season 2 champions BMW, while R8G Esports faced off against Jean Alesi Team Suzuki.
Over in Group B, the early favourites Mercedes had the week off, giving Redline a chance to close the gap in their match against Team Fordzilla, while Aston Martin and Red Bull both needed to get their season going back in the right direction.
R8G back bounce back
After coming away from their first match with no points, R8G Esports got their V10 R-League campaign back on track with a strong 3-1 win against Jean Alesi Team Suzuki.
Suzuki took the first relay race at Silverstone, hinting at another disappointing day for the French outfit. However, that would all change in the team race. A good start gave R8G a 1-2 into the first corner, and with Suzuki drivers Dario Iemmulo and Michol Tonizza coming together it was an easy point for R8G.
When the match moved to Mugello R8G took total control of it. They waltzed the relay race and qualified 1-2-3 for the team race, converting it to a relatively simple win.
With both R8G and Suzuki eyeing up a wildcard berth this season, the 3-1 result could be huge come the end of the group stages.
BMW struggles continue
A turbulent off-season saw BMW lose their Season 2 championship roster, and Michael Romanidis came back to haunt the German outfit as Williams scored a clean-sweep 4-0 win in this one.
Romanidis led away in the first relay race in Monza and won the team race at the Italian track. The BMW crew were simply pushing too hard, with Ibraheem Khan losing it at Ascari in the relay race while Alen Terzic got deep on the brakes at turn 1 in the team race and punted Daniele Haddad.
It went from bad to worse for BMW as the match moved to Silverstone, where Williams was in total command. Haddad led Romanidis over the line to complete the 4-0 clean sweep.
The result puts Williams back in contention for top spot in Group A, which is still held by YAS Heat, while BMW is in danger of getting cut adrift at the bottom of the table.
Rampant Redline
With Mercedes on the sideline this week, Team Redline had a chance to put the pressure on at the top of Group B. It was an opportunity they converted with a big 4-0 win over Team Fordzilla.
While Fordzilla was competitive, especially the fast-starting Turkish driver Emre Cihan, there was no answer for the overall strength of the Redline trio.
A controversial collision up the Kemmel straight gave Redline the win in the relay race, but it was a simple 1-2-3 for Redline in the team race.
At Silverstone Cihan led the way in the relay race but got it all wrong going into Copse, gifting the point to Redline. Cihan would aim for redemption on the team race Kevin Siggy was just too strong and took the chequered flag first. With Enzo Bonito coming third Redline wrapped up the 4-0 win, moving within a point of Mercedes at the top of Group B.
Aston Martin back in the mix
The second match in Group B was between two big names in esports that both needed a win. Aston Martin was swept aside by Redline in their first match, while Red Bull has suffered at the hands of Mercedes and Redline.
The struggles would continue for Red Bull, as Aston Martin took a vital 4-0 win to get their season going at last.
Manuel Biancolilla provided one of the drives of the season so far, as his joker lap performance gave the green machines a strong lead in the relay race, which they won after an overly optimistic divebomb from Yuri Kasdorp at the Bus Stop on the final lap.
It was Biancolilla again who raced away from the competition in the team race, taking victory while Simon Weigang’s fourth gave Aston Martin an insurmountable margin.
Red Bull seemed to lose their cool as the match moved to Mugello. An incident between Joni Tormala and Alejandro Sanchez gave a simple win to Aston Martin in the relay, while another lights-to-flag drive from Biancolilla completed the sweep.
Week four awaits
With just two rounds of the group stage left the pressure is building. BMW and Red Bull are two teams that are in desperate need of a result in their next matches.
You can catch all the week four action from 1pm BST on Friday, 24 June live on the V10 R-League YouTube channel!