Jenson Button and Petter Solberg captured victories Saturday in the Legends Trophy Torque Esports’ The Race All-Star Esports Series at virtual Autodromo do Estoril.
Button, the 2009 Formula One champion, started on pole for the second consecutive week and led 10 laps wire to wire in a 5-second victory over Emanuele Pirro.
Jan Magnussen finished third, Vitantonio Liuzzi was fourth, and Adrian Fernandez took fifth.
It was Button’s first win in this round of the Legends Trophy but his third overall.
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“I was just hammering it every lap because I thought if I take it easy, there’s just as much chance I’m going to spin off as if I push hard,” Button said. “This track is really tricky. T
“his is the one that worried me the most. I was testing and I wasn’t really on the pace. It’s definitely more of a sort of rally-style in terms of where you put the car, rallycross style, you double apex a lot of the corners.”
Our first #legendstrophy winner of today - @JensonButton not taking any chances today on a tricky track! The Race All-Star Series - powered by @ROKiTPhonesUK
— The Race (@wearetherace) May 9, 2020
💻 Watch now at: https://t.co/WdVqh89DFe, https://t.co/HRUYi2brRN and on @ESPN 2#LegendsTrophy pic.twitter.com/IMmSk3MV7g
In the second race, two-time World Rally Championship titlist Petter Solberg jumped from fourth to first on a daring pass in Turn 1 on the second lap and cruised to a 14-second-win over Pirro. Mika Salo was third, followed by Button and Magnussen.
We're just posting this for Slo Mo drift reasons. @petter_solberg at full tilt. pic.twitter.com/z9qnSEdKrQ
— The Race (@wearetherace) May 9, 2020
“I had a very good start and then I had to back off because I got too close to the car in front,” Solberg said. “I knew I had good speed, and I just had to try and be as clean as possible. Circuit racing is definitely not easy but I’m loving it.”
Pirro, the five-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, took over the Legends Trophy championship with 164 points through four races. Button is ranked second in the standings with 160, followed by Solberg (150), Magnussen (138) and Juan Pablo Montoya (127).