TBR Take the GT3 WIN !
Every year iRacing run a few “Special Events” loosely timed to tie-in with their real world counterparts. A few to name are the Daytona 24, 12hrs of Sebring, Le Mans and (sometimes) the Watkins 6hr. A late season favorite is the Petit Le Man, 10hrs around Road Atlanta for the cars running in the official iRacing IMSA series (DP, GTE and GT3)
2018 would see just 2 TBR entries, one in GTE and one GT3. Due to the enormous amount of entries around the world for the Saturday race (8 splits of 50 cars each!) only one of the cars would make the the top split, with TBR Red (GTE) starting in the 3rd split, while TBR Pink (GT3) managed to get in to the top split broadcast race. Sadly, the TBR Red boys would not manage a finish in their race after a promising start, having been wrecked out on lap 65 by a back marking GTE.
However, it’s a whole different story for TBR Pink. Fraser “Maer Baws Then Brens” Williamson qualified the AMG GT3 in 3rd behind a pair of pro team drivers, Williams Esports GT3 in pole and Vendeval SimRacing Yellow in 2nd. Lap 2 and there was a tiny bit of contact between the 2 leaders and Fraser managed to squeeze in to the lead, a short lived lead as it happened as he would be taken by Williams Esports GT3 on L4. P2 would be where Fraser would stay until he handed the car over to Mike “Sleepy” Davies on L92. Mike continued in P2, keeping his nose clean, avoiding incidents and managing the traffic whilst dropping to approx. 10 seconds behind the GT3 leaders. Mikes 50 lap stint over, he handed across to Lewis “King of KFC” Goodway on L140 at approx. 1/3rd distance.
Lap 208 and the Williams Esports GT3 tangled with a back-marker, unfortunate for them…. but fortunate for Lewis as he now saw himself in the lead. A quick discussion with the team and a plan was formulated whereby Lewis would continue to manage traffic and pace and save as much fuel as possible in an effort to save a stop over Pinks nearest rival, Torque Freak Racing Boaty MercBoatFace. Lewis and Fraser would have another couple of driver changes in the remaining 230ish laps and would indeed gain a lap on the whole GT3 field before the finish.
So a fine win for TBR Pink in one of the premier events on the iRacing calendar. Massive congratulations to the whole team, the drivers and the background crew who I have no doubt were whispering sweet nothing’s in the drivers ears across Team Speak.
Iracings coverage of the race is here and here.
Official results are here.
