© Oracle Red Bull Sim RacingRasmussen and Opmeer Shine in Double-HeaderJarno Opmeer and Frederik Rasmussen both claimed back-to-back points finishes during an action-packed Formula 1 Sim Racing World Championship double-header.
TheresultsleaveOpmeersecondintheDrivers’standingson73points,withRasmussen11thon37.Meanwhile,OracleRedBullSimRacingtrailsonlyMercedesintheConstructors’standingsandsitson110pointsaftersevenraces.
Starting from P10 and P11 respectively, Rasmussen and Opmeer held position during a rather uneventful opening to the race. This was in large part due to 19 of the 20 runners opting to start on the hard compound tyres at the punishing Spa-Francorchamps circuit where tyre preservation is always a key consideration.
Overtakes continued to be few and far between for much of the first stint, with Rasmussen unable to quite get close enough to Ismael Fahssi in front of him to make a move. Luckily, Fahssi was the first of the front runners to pit, deciding to box on Lap 8, followed by Tom Manley and Brendon Leigh a lap later.
With Fahssi out of the way, Rasmussen and Opmeer both passed Nicolas Longuet on the run into Les Combes, the Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing able to carry more speed than the Ferrari man down the Kemmel Straight. Having made the move, Rasmussen pitted for a set of mediums later that lap.
Opmeer stayed out for a few additional laps before pitting from second place on Lap 13. He re-joined the action in P15, but with a tyre advantage over many of those running ahead of him and some clear air.
Up the road, Rasmussen passed Ulaş Özyıldırım for P6 and would have had another place had Fahssi not cut the corner to keep the Dane at bay. Fahssi picked up a three-second penalty in the process and could only hold onto the position for a few more corners before ceding to Rasmussen at Bruxelles.
Rasmussen gained another position on Lap 16 to move into P4, this time at the expense of Leigh, but could only hold onto the place for a lap or so before losing it to Bereznay. Meanwhile, Opmeer had leaped up to 11th with the overtakes of Joris Croezen and Alvaro Carreton in quick succession.
Continuing his charge, Opmeer passed Joni Törmälä on Lap 18 to climb into the points, before overtaking Fahssi at Blanchimont. He then passed Özyıldırım and Leigh in the space of a single corner, placing only Istvan Puki between the two Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing drivers with two laps remaining.
With his tyres beginning to wane Rasmussen couldn’t quite hold on, losing a place to Puki on the penultimate and then to Opmeer with just a few corners to go. This gave Opmeer an impressive sixth-place finish, while Rasmussen came home in a creditable seventh.
Frede's game face© Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing
Starting eighth on the grid after a strong showing in qualifying, Rasmussen had his race turned upside down on the opening lap when, on the approach to Turn 3, the Dane was pushed wide while battling with Otis Lawrence and fell to P15.
Opmeer made a better start from 17th on the grid, taking advantage of the chaos ahead of him to move into P13 in the opening stages. However, he was subsequently hit with an in-game five-second penalty for cutting a corner and gaining an advantage, which was later rescinded post-race.
With rain beginning to emerge, Opmeer dived into the pits on Lap 2 along with nine other drivers, exchanging his soft tyres for a pair of the intermediates. Rasmussen stayed out for another lap before boxing, and by the start of Lap 5 every driver in the field had switched to the intermediates.
The rain continued to worsen over the next few laps, with Opmeer now running in P9 and Rasmussen in P13. Both drivers were handling the conditions well, but overtaking was proving difficult up and down the field.
That changed on Lap 10 though, when Opmeer and Puki went wheel-to-wheel through a series of corners. Opmeer was briefly ahead, but Puki reclaimed eighth place with a daring move at Turn 7, leaving the door open for Törmälä to also get through.
Rasmussen lost a place to Longuet on Lap 13 but was able to gain three spots shortly afterwards when Manley, Puki and Lucas Blakely opted to stop for a second set of intermediates. This triggered Shanaka Clay and Lawrence to follow suit, allowing Rasmussen to move into the top 10, one spot behind Opmeer who was also passed by Longuet.
Opmeer boxed for a second time on Lap 22, swapping his worn intermediates for a fresh set, and re-emerged in P16. Rasmussen stayed out for two additional laps before pitting from the lead of the race for new intermediates, the track still too wet to risk a dry compound.
With a set of fresh tyres, Rasmussen set about his work. In quick succession the Dane passed Fabrizio Donoso Delgado, Declan Barrett, Tamás Gál and Clay, climbing up to P10 in the process. He then passed his teammate Opmeer on the long run into Turn 1 at the start of Lap 31, before overtaking Blakeley around the outside at Turn 8 that same lap.
Opmeer was soon past Blakeley too, before Rasmussen repeated his Turn 1 trick to move ahead of Alfie Butcher on the penultimate lap of the race. He held on from there to claim a quite brilliant P8 finish in the most trying of conditions.
