What do you mean it’s February already?
Virtual Pirtek Racing have kicked off the 2019 season by entering the Delta Online Racing (DOR) Retro GT series. Six drivers across two teams driving under the VPR name will be contesting against nearly 100 other drivers, from a plethora of other eSports organisations.
In the first team; Virtual Pirtek Racing, we have Mutley, A55ASSIN, and StaticSh33p driving the 1984 Nissan Bluebird Super Silhouette. The oldest car the team have ever entered into competition, except for one…
The 1980 Lancia Corse Beta Montecarlo Turbo will be entered by the second team; CTech Motorsport with VPR. Piloting the legendary Lancia, are AnonCaliga, Pluto18 and StealthDavo.
For the season opener at Watkins Glen, it would be A55ASSIN to light up the timing sheets and qualify in B lobby, where he would stay for the duration of the evening, raking up plenty of points for the team by finishing 10th in the first race, and 6th in the second.
Qualifying in C lobby were Mutley and StaticSh33p. Mutley started in pole position, having only missed out on B lobby by nine thousandths of a second. He would go on to record a lights to flag victory, earning promotion to B lobby for the second race, where he would meet up with A55ASSIN for a fantastically exciting race two. After a long battle involving both VPR drivers and a number of other cars, Mutley would follow A55ASSIN home for 7th place. StaticSh33p’s evening was hardly less enthralling. Staring 12th on the grid, he impressed to move up three places, finishing 9th in race one. But he was not done there. More great racing followed in race two, with StaticSh33p moving up another four places, to finish 5th.
AnonCaliga was the sole Lancia under the VPR banner. After qualifying 2nd for E lobby, he knew that all he had to do was remain in the top three in order to move up to D lobby in race two. And that he did! Scoring VPR’s second podium of the day in the first race. Despite moving up to face tougher opposition, AnonCaliga impressed again in the second race, working his way up the field to finish 7th.
The home of British motorsport, Silverstone, hosted the second meeting in the series. And by all accounts was a much quitter affair. Though by no means less impressive. Mutley qualified incredibly well, sneaking into A lobby, where he would start 16th and last. Despite a great, late battle for 13th place, Mutley would just miss out on A lobby safety, dropping to B lobby for race two. A quiet race ensued, crossing the line to finish 2nd after the 12 laps were done.
StaticSh33p would emulate A55ASSIN from Watkins, and hold station in B lobby for both races, recording two 6th place finishes.
AnonCaliga was once again the lone VPR Lancia. A solid qualifying from the Team Principle secured him a D lobby start, where he would stay for the evening, finishing 6th and 7th in the two races.
So, two rounds into the series, Virtual Pirtek Racing sit 8th in the overall team standings, whilst CTech Motorsport with VPR are 25th. Mutley leads the way in the drivers standings, sitting in 14th overall. StaticSh33p and AnonCaliga currently hold 20th and 46th position respectively. The other three drivers have each missed at least one of the two rounds, so will be looking to catch up with their teammates once the drop round takes effect at the end of the season.
The third round of the season marks the half-way point this weekend. The series travels to Japan, as Suzuka plays host, and VPR look to continue their current upward trend.
Article By: J Hastings