Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Chris Dittmann Racing’s Nico Varrone was the top scorer at Silverstone in the iRacing-based BRDC British Formula 3 Esports series.
Varrone made a great start from pole in race one, and after breaking the tow he was untouched up front.
Douglas Motorsport’s Ulysse De Pauw passed Hillspeed’s Oliver Clarke for second place at the start of lap two, and was similarly unchallenged for the rest of the race.
Clarke lost another spot to Fortec Motorsports’ Johnathan Hoggard on lap nine of 11, but didn’t have to worry after that as the top four were way clear.
Louis Foster won the battle for fifth at the final corner of the race after a late battle with 2014 IndyCar champion Will Power. The former British F3 racer qualified fourth but spun off on lap one and had to climb his way back up from 13th.
A crash involving Tom Gamble (Fortec), Nicolai Kjaergaard (Carlin) and Piers Prior (Lanan Racing) at Club brought Power up to seventh after three laps.
He set fastest lap in his pursuit of the cars ahead, passing Lanan’s Bart Horsten at Brooklands and then Foster at Copse with a move he’d set up at Brooklands. Double R driver Foster responded at Club, and it took until the final lap for Power to draw alongside again.
Power made his move down the Hangar Straight, but Foster put his nose in on the entry to Club chicane. In response Power went way wide on the switchback, and he bounced over the FIA Grade 1 sausage kerbs as he returned to track. The lack of balance span him around, handing Foster fifth and also dropping him behind Horsten and Fortec’s Ben Hingeley.
Prior jumped from fifth to first ahead of team-mate Joshua Mason on the dramatic first lap of the reversed grid race two, with Carlin’s Enaam Ahmed and Douglas’s Harrison Scott flying up from the back of the grid to third and fifth.
After Mason received one of iRacing’s slowdown penalties on lap two he fell into the clutches of sixth-placed Power, with Prior having already established a comfortable lead.
Scott, racing with a recently broken wrist that required adapting his simulator to (literally) left-hand drive, passed Ahmed the next time around and the top three kept their distance for the rest of proceedings.
Power twice claimed fifth from Kjaergaard, the first time with a clean move at Brooklands, and lightly tapping his opponent into a spin at Village on the second attempt.
It took just as long to clear Mason, setting up a move at Brooklands and only completing the overtake on the exit of Maggotts. He then backed Mason into Hoggard at Stowe, which resulted in that pair crashing at Club after Mason’s car got loose.
Horsten therefore took fifth behind Power, with Varrone coming from last on the grid to finish sixth. Kjaergaard, Hoggard and Mason salvaged seventh, eighth and ninth, while BRDC British Formula 4 race-winner Jake Dalton avoided the chaos for 10th.