ENES in Watkins Glen: Autodrom Most celebrate win by Michal Smidl
Three races, three winners: EuroNASCAR also demonstrates in the virtual world how close the competition within the series is – Michal Smidl won the third ENES round at Watkins Glen
On Tuesday, it was time for another virtual race: 70 drivers fought for victory and important points for the real team classification in the EuroNASCAR Esport Series (ENES) at the Watkins Glen International. In the end the sim racer Michal Smidl sped to victory for the Autodrom Most. He is the third different winner, in the third race – the Prologue included.
“All in all it was a great race for me,” said Smidl. “It was crucial to have a good first lap and I had it. The biggest challenge was the traffic during the races. It’s not easy to get through the back markers without any scratches on your car. I tried to keep it safe and in the end it worked out. I’m really happy about winning the race for the Autodrom Most.”
In the ENES race, which was characterized by an early big one, Smidl did not allow himself to make a mistake and quickly gained an advantage over the runner-up Lasse Soerensen racing for DF1 Racing. Smidl took advantage from a thrilling three-way battle between the Dane, Loris Hezemans and his crew chief Jeffrey Roeffen.
Comeback by Alon Day
For Alon Day, however, the event at Watkins Glen International was a real rollercoaster ride. The Israeli had to fight his way back twice after crashes. In his preliminary run, the two-time champion fell back early after touching the track barrier and with eleventh place, he narrowly missed the direct qualification for the final.
Via the “Last Chance Qualifier” he advanced to the main race. At the start there was another contact, but Day bit through and drove up to third place. In the main race, he moved up from 33rd to eighth place and the Israeli was awarded the four bonus points for the most overtakes. In the overall standings, however, Soerensen leads with three points ahead of Day and four points ahead of Hezemans.
Brett Moffitt with ENES debut
A guest entrant made a strong debut in the EuroNASCAR Esports Series. The 2018 NASCAR Gander & RV Outdoors Truck Series champion Brett Moffit drove his first ENES race at Watkins Glen International and delivered solid results, finishing ninth in the heat and 19th in the main race.
Afterwards Moffitt commented on the race: “These guys have a lot of speed, I have to find better friends to practice with I guess. It was great to be in the EuroNASCAR Esports Series for this race, the competition is really deep and we were all separated by a couple of hundredths of a second all the way down the order. You have to be on your A-game to do well in these races.”
The fans of the EuroNASCAR Esports Series will have to be patient for a while as the next race at Circuit Park Zandvoort is scheduled on May 19th. As usual, the series’ debut on the dune circuit can be watched live from 8 pm on the series’ social media channels.
