The opening round of the 2022 ADAC SimRacingExpo SimRacing.GP Professional Trophy got underway at Circuit of the Americas, which saw well over 40 teams take to the grid for what was a cat and mouse game of a six-hour long race in Texas at the 5.514-km circuit. However, whilst the rest of the field were battling up and down the order, it was the Unicorns of Love #14 Audi team of Dennis Schöniger, Tobias Pfeffer and Michael Tauscher that would secure a dominant victory by over 45 seconds to lead the standings leading into round two. Coupling that with the fastest lap of the race, pole position and consistent great pace, they would take home a maximum score of 25 points, amidst a race that was seeing a lot of penalties being issued early.
The battle for the best of the rest would see YAS HEAT in the #149 take second position, ahead of Williams Esports, who rounded out the top three having qualified 0.232 seconds behind the #14 to complete the front row of the starting grid.
TRITON Racing would hold station in fourth, and keep themselves in the hunt in the #10, followed by the impressive comeback by the #66 Audi of Veloce as the trio of Jardier, Eamonn Murphy and new addition Angel Inostroza showcased great form.
Murphy would also provide some of the best overtaking of the race, especially around the outside move on the #38 GTWR-Esports-2 with Darren King behind the wheel at Turn 12 in the latter stages, with the latter taking sixth at the chequered flag.
GTWR GO Setups in the #21 took seventh, despite two major moments for Andrea Cappocia under the night-time sky, who at the time was battling away with the Carbon Simsport Audi of Wojciech Lukazsek.
The #90 car would end up finishing in ninth, behind the highest placed Qualifier team, the #28 of WPS Racing Team, who steadily made up 11 places over the course of the race.
Virtualdrivers by TX3 rounded out the top ten, with the final points scoring positions secured by SDL eSports Logitech G (#6), Unicorns of Love II (#4), GetCloser Racing PRO (#27), BMW G2 Esports (#62) and Beaver Grease Racing (#68).
It was also great to see three of the top ten in the Qualifier teams make their way into the points-paying positions overall, WPS Racing Team lead the standings in this part of the Professional Trophy by five points ahead of GetCloser Racing PRO, with Beaver Grease Racing completing the top three, covered by eight points. You can re-watch the race in its entirety on Twitch.
The next round of the 2022 ADAC SimRacingExpo SimRacing.GP Professional Trophy takes place on Saturday the 20th of August, where the teams will head to the iconic Mount Panorama, as Bathurst will see further excitement and drama over the course of another six hours around a track that drivers and teams enjoy the challenge.