Nick Tandy snapped BMW’s three-race winning streak in the IMSA iRacing Pro Invitational Series, capturing Round 4 at virtual Road America.
The Porsche factory driver won by 2.845 seconds in his No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR over Bruno Spengler, whose BMW M8 GTE had won the first two races in the series.
“It was just one of those races where everything fell our way,” Tandy said in an IMSA release. “We managed to bag a really good (qualifying) lap, which kept us out of trouble at the start, which was my main issue at Laguna and Ohio was just having a clean run without getting in other people’s incidents.”
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“The concentration level needed for me to drive on the sim, it’s so much greater than when I’m driving in reality. I think it’s because the driving in reality, it’s kind of in your subconscious. You can think about what goes on with stuff while it’s happening, whereas with sim racing, it’s still kind of a bit fraught. I definitely felt my wrists after the race from just grabbing and holding the steering wheel so tight trying to not make a mistake. It’s pretty painful.”
Spengler, who won at Sebring and Laguna Seca, scored his third top-two finish and reclaimed the points lead in the series after a sixth two weeks ago at virtual Mid-Ohio.
“It was a great race,” Spengler said in an IMSA release. “It started a bit more difficult than the other races. I’d say our opponents had more pace, for example the Porsche was very, very strong here, Ford as well. But we had a good setup and a good car.”
Spengler is ahead of teammate Nicky Catsburg by eight points through four of six races. Catsburg finished ninth Thursday after winning at virtual Mid-Ohio.
Philipp Eng finished third at Road America in the No. 26 Team Austria BMW, his first podium of the season.
Click here for the results at Road America in Round 4 of the IMSA Pro Invitational.
iRACING CHALLENGE: In the inaugural event at virtual Road America, of the new IMSA simulation series, Michael Cooper won in the No. 10 Flying Lizard Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport, emerging from a battle for the lead with 10 laps to go over Jeff Andrews (who spun into the wall). Ben Waddell finished second with Forty7 Motorsports, and Max Root was third with Wright Motorsports.
Click her for the results in the IMSA iRacing Challenge at Road America.