TORA Base Performance Simulators PGT Post Race Review

Sunday May 1st seen all teams and privateers competing in the TORA Base Performance Simulators Production GT assemble at sunny Catalunya Spain for the penultimate round of the series.

Qualifying immediately took a turn for the worst for one of the three Virtual Pirtek Racing drivers when one of the lobby hosts for the evening failed to send a qualifying invite to the VPR driver which would see our team driver, Select Veepz, having to start at the back of the grid in lobby B due to not being able to set a qualifying time. Team driver Nutter set a qualifying time of 1:53.850 which placed him in lobby A and would see him start race one 9th on the grid. Team principal AnonCaliga placed a qualifying time of 1:57.039 and placed him in lobby B with a starting grid position of 7th.

Race one got underway and straight from the back of the lobby B grid Select Veepz immediately drove around three drivers including AnonCaliga and began making his way through the field. By the first mandatory pit stop Veepz had taken the lead and massed a great lead over the chasing pack however this would shortly end when Veepz rolled his car which ended him back in the pits for repairs.
AnonCaliga opted for an early pit stop in an attempt to jump several drivers who had not yet took their first pit stop. Nutter in lobby A also had some great battles with a group of cars and made steady progress through his field until the mandatory pit stops came into play.
Race one finished with Nutter taking 7th in lobby A, Veepz took 5th in lobby B and AnonCaliga took 8th place also in lobby B

Race two would see the usual grid lining up for race start in order of their finishing positions from race one. Nutter would start 7th on the lobby A grid, Veepz in lobby B would start from 5th on the grid and Caliga, also in lobby B, would start 8th on the grid. Race start and the grid in both lobbies got away cleanly however in lobby B and the second bend AnonCaliga had contact from an opposing team driver which seemed like an attempt by the driver to spin Caliga’s car out, luckily, AnonCaliga was able to stay in control of his Pirtek BMW M4 Coupe and continue his race. Up front in lobby B Select Veepz was already making progress working from his 5th position up to 3rd by the end of the first lap. Nutter in his lobby also had to deal with contact from the surrounding pack of cars in his lobby.
By the time of the first mandatory pit stops Veepz was holding 2nd position in lobby B, AnonCaliga 7th and Nutter in his lobby held 8th position. After pit stop one had been completed Veepz took the lobby lead soon after and AnonCaliga still holding 7th position then had a somewhat lonely race for the period up to the second mandatory pit stops. All VPR drivers suffered minor scuffs, bumps and bruises on their Pirtek sponsored BMW’s in the closing stages of race two and AnonCaliga in particular had a big moment when one driver in his lobby was hit by an oncoming car from behind which then caused all three cars to make contact pushing AnonCaliga’s car sideways around corner four, fortunately only panel damage was caused to the VPR BMW, although AnonCaliga did lose one position due to the contact made to his car. Race two ended with Nutter taking 11th in lobby A, AnonCaliga took 7th in his lobby B race but it was Select Veepz scoring best for Virtual Pirtek Racing after what started as a bad round for him when he was not sent a qualifying lobby invite. Select Veepz took 1st place in lobby B, winning with a massive lead ahead of the rest of the field.

AnonCaliga collected a round points tally of 211 points, Select Veepz brought the Pirtek team 220 points and Nutter topped off the Virtual Pirtek Racing team points collection for the penultimate round with a 234 points tally. Virtual Pirtek Racing head into the series finale still leading the TORA Base Performance Simulators Production GT team standings with a marginal lead of 61 points over the second place team.

The final round of this series stands to be quite the spectacle as the VPR team enter the finale which could see Virtual Pirtek Racing be crowned team champions or they could come second overall in the final team standings, it all goes down to the wire of the final two races of round six. The season finale races will be held on Sunday May 15th at 8pm (UK) with Circuit of the Americas being the final destination and closing circuit of what has been a truly exciting and nail biting series.