Porsche works driver Nick Tandy won the fourth round of the IMSA iRacing Pro Series in Elkhart Lake (USA)
The experienced British driver performed brilliantly at the wheel of the virtual Porsche 911 RSR with the race number 911 and crossed the finish line on Road America with a lead of 2.845 seconds. In the 90-minute race based on the iRacing simracing platform, Tandy kept himself out of trouble in the sometimes extremely tight competition and thus realized Porsche’s first success in the digital IMSA racing series. In preparation for the race, Tandy got valuable tips from the current Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup champion, Joshua Rogers (Australia).
Porsche Junior Ayhancan Güven, on the other hand, was very unlucky. The young up-and-coming driver from Turkey was in second place after his strong performance, directly behind his brand colleague Tandy. Around 19 minutes before the end of the race, his Porsche 911 RSR with the starting number 913 suffered considerable damage when it came into contact with a vehicle that had been lapped. Güven, who demonstrated his tremendous quality as a simracer with the clearly fastest lap, among other things, was unable to continue the competition.
The American Shinya Michimi showed an impressive performance. The experienced online pilot from Ohio finished fourth in the Porsche 911 RSR, naming Meyer Shank Racing.
The reigning IMSA champions Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) and Earl Bamber (New Zealand) finished in 21st and 24th place. Canadian Robert Wickens made a solid debut at the wheel of the Pfaff Motorsports customer team’s virtual Porsche 911 RSR. The former DTM driver, who is fighting back to active motorsport after a serious IndyCar accident, crossed the finish line in 27th place.
Comments on the race
Nick Tandy (Porsche 911 RSR #911): “That was great fun! If you’re competitive and win, that always puts you in a good mood, of course. I’ll go to bed tonight feeling very happy. I got a bit nervous during the last laps because I had a few glitches with my computer. The screen kept going blank, but it all turned out ok in the end. A huge thank you to Joshua Rogers. Our reigning champion of the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup gave me a lot of very helpful tips over the past few days. It paid off.”
Ayhancan Güven (Porsche 911 RSR #913): “Congratulations to Nick. I’m delighted about his first win. We were focused completely on preparing for this race, and obviously it worked very well judging by our strong performances. Unfortunately, I had bad luck. My race came to an end after I touched a backmarker. It’s a pity, but at least we gave fans a good show – and victory went to Porsche. That’s the most important thing.”
