VISSER DOMINANT IN W SERIES ESPORTS LEAGUE INTERLAGOS ROUND
Beitske Visser’s lead in the W Series eSports League has increased further thanks to her efforts in the latest rounds at Interlagos in Brazil, after she produced a near-perfect effort all evening to clinch two wins and a 2nd place to almost secure the maximum number of points from the night’s events.
Visser once again proved her pace in qualifying for the first race, as she began the night with pole position with a time almost two tenths quicker than that set by Marta Garcia, with Caitlin Wood and Nerea Marti separated by just a couple of hundredths on the second row behind them. Alice Powell and Brands Hatch race winner Ira Sidorkova lined up next ahead of Ayla Agren and Tasmin Pepper, with Belen Garcia and Godia Rdest rounding off the top 10 starters.
Garcia managed to get a better jump off the line at the start to take the lead heading into the Senna S from Visser, with Wood slotting in behind for 3rd place. At the bottom of the Senna S, contact from another car sent Sidorkova tumbling down the pack, leaving her on the back foot just two corners into the opening race. Visser, meanwhile, was already launching an attack to reclaim the lead she’d lost from pole, running side by side with M.Garcia down the Reto Oposta before resisting a chance to pass at the Descido do Lago. Another possible chance at the next corner at Ferradura didn’t come off either, and so it left Marta Garcia to led the field on the opening lap with Visser in tow and Wood and Marti looking on in 3rd and 4th respectively.
Visser managed to pick up an undercut heading out of Descido do Lago on the next lap and held the outside line looking into Ferradura, but still couldn’t make a pass stick on Garcia, allowing Wood and Marti to close further. That is until Marti locked the rear brakes heading into Esse, spinning across the infield grass and losing places to Agren and Marti. Visser continued to apply the pressure to Marta Garcia as the pair continued circulating together out front with Wood doing her best to stay with them as she held the final podium place, and it finally worked when she performed a classy move through the Senna S to take the lead on exit to put the Dutch driver out in front and with clear air for the first time.
Further back, a battle for 4th place took place between Ayla Agren and Gosia Rdest. The Norwegian driver Agren forced Rdest to out-brake herself into the Senna S and allowed a simple and straightforward pass to take the position. Rdest then had to go on the defensive a few moments later when Jessica Hawkins mounted an attack for the final top five place and began chasing her down as the minutes ticked off.
At the flag, Visser completed another superb drive to take victory ahead of Marta Garcia and Caitlin Wood on the podium with Agren taking 4th place and Rdest managing to hold off Hawkins in the end for the final top 5 placings. Behind them came Belen Garcia in 7th place, Fabienne Wohlwend in 8th, Tasmin Pepper in 9th and Emma Kimilainen to complete the top 10.
Naomi Schiff took up pole for the reverse grid race, but her race took a quick nosedive early when she lost traction out of the Senna S just a couple of corners into the start of the race and was left falling all the way down to 18th place. As a result of that and other first corner incidents, it left Ira Sidorkova taking up the lead from Abbie Eaton and Vicky Piria, the two driver swapping places exiting Descido do Lago, before a mistake from Piria also saw here drop down to the rear of the field. Of the front runners from Race 1, Nerea Marti had made the most progress to 5th by the end of the opening lap, with Visser soon moving into 6th place.
Marta Garcia was also making steady progress up to 10th, but she was aided further when Fabienne Wohlwend’s attempt to pass Rdest into Bico de Pato left the Lichtenstein driver getting clipped by Agren on corner exit, sending Wohlwend’s car up and over onto its roll bar and out of the race on the spot. There was further drama back towards the front as Tomaselli attempted to pass Eaton for 2nd place into the Senna S, with the two cars coming together exiting the first corner and leaving Tomaselli in the barriers as a result. Marti immediately capitalised and took P2 for herself before both Pepper and Visser arrived on the scene, with the latter picking off both Pepper and Eaton exiting Juncao to move into 3rd.
The majority of the top 10 remained somewhat spread out for most of the race, with a battle for 3rd kicking off in the final minutes between Marti and Pepper. Lining up the Spaniard heading down the pit straight, Pepper tried to make a move on the outside to no avail before trying again into Descido do Lago, making a brilliant switchback move stick and climbing into the final podium place. Out in front, Sidorkova had been unchallenged in the lead much like at Brands Hatch, as she drove to her third win of the season in fine style. Visser drove exceptionally to climb from the back of the field to 2nd place ahead of Pepper in 3rd with Marti and Marta Garcia completing the top 5, ahead of Eaton, Wood, Agren, Sarah Moore and Rdest.
Visser again stormed to pole position in the second qualifying session and managed to get away from the grid better than she had in the first race, leading the way as Marta Garcia and Sidorkova immediately began scrapping over 2nd place behind. A trouble-free opening lap left the top three in the same order with Pepper, Hawkins and Alice Powell following suit just outside the podium places until an issue for Powell exiting Juncao undid her great start and pushed her down to 17th. Pepper then mounted a challenge on Sidorkova for 3rd at Descido do Lago but had to sit behind the Russian for the time being.
The early laps saw the top drivers at the head of the field evenly spread out, so it was left to the drivers in the bottom half of the top 10 to fight for positions amongst themselves. Hawkins came under threat from Belen Garcia as the Spaniard looked around the outside at the Senna S and made a superb move to take the place. Hawkins immediately retaliated and ran wide looking round the outside at Descido do Lago, bringing Tomaselli, Powell and Schiff into the mix to create a five-car scrap. Lining up Marti in a reversal of the previous lap, Hawkins retook the place before Belen dived back through at Esse, allowing Powell to put pressure on her fellow British driver. Instead, she watched Hawkins attempt a dive inside at Juncao, leaving her to lose 9th to Powell as a result. Hawkins would later make another mistake and drop down to 16th place.
Heading into the final five minutes, Agren came under threat from Marti for 6th place and eventually managed to make the move at the end of the Reto Oposta straight, with the Spaniard running slightly wide on exit but quickly rejoining the racing line to maintain the place. Out in front, Visser’s lead remained unchallenged for the entire race and she cantered to her second win of the night, further extending her already healthy points lead at the top of the standings even further. Marta Garcia collected 2nd place with Sidorkova rounding off the podium, followed by Pepper and Wood in the top 5, and then Marti, Agren, Belen Garcia, Powell and Schiff completing the top 10 finishers.
Scott Woodwiss
