After securing pole position in qualifying, Sascha Lenz took the chequered flag in race 1 in Zolder, securing his first victory in the ETRC Digital Racing Challenge.
Antonio Albacete who started from second on the grid, didn’t get a great start as he was overtaken by Björn Tyhuis, Téo Calvet and Jamie Anderson dropping him back into fifth. The Spaniard battled with Adam Lacko for position and didn’t give up easily as he drove home a solid fourth place.
Björn Tyhuis got a good start jumping Albacete for second place. However he couldn’t keep up with the pace of leader Lenz and was holding up Calvet behind, who eventually overtook him. He dropped further back in the field and finished fifth.
Norbert Kiss, who was absent from qualifying and therefore had to start from the back, wasted no time rolling up the grid from behind. After the first lap he was already up into fifth and made short work of the trucks ahead of him to get into third right behind Téo Calvet.
Calvet, who stayed with Lenz after the start, had to go defensive and dropped off the leader, who pulled out a 6-second gap. Calvet and Kiss battled fiercely for second place. Kiss finally made it past, but had to give back the position to the Frenchman and the fight continued. When Kiss attacked again, Calvet got pressured into an error and went off track. Kiss drove a strong finish, cutting down the gap to Lenz, but in the end he couldn’t catch the German, who drove a faultless race to claim his long overdue first digital win.
British racer Jamie Anderson started the second race from pole. After the restart Anderson led the grid from start to finish to drive home his maiden ETRC Digital Racing Challenge win.
Behind him it was certainly gloves off as a four-way battle for second place developed between Jonathan André, Téo Calvet, Sascha Lenz and Norbert Kiss.
Jonathan André defended his second place at the start but got under pressure from fellow country man Téo Calvet, who made up three places. Calvet looked faster than André, however he couldn’t overtake him. In the last few laps of the race, Lenz and Kiss closed in on Calvet, who made contact with Lenz, causing the French driver to drop back into fourth while Lenz finished on the podium in third.
Kiss, who got into a muddle after the start, went wide into the gravel and once again had to charge through the field from behind. He picked off his opponents one by one until he caught up with the leading group. Him and Lenz had some tight battles in the closing stages of the race, however Kiss could’t find a way past and finished fifth, his worst result so far in the digital racing season.