Dozens of iRacing’s best road racers took to the high banks of Daytona International Speedway on Sunday for the first race of the 2021 BMW Sim GT Cup season, but few had the speed to challenge Team Redline for the front of the field. In the end, the formidable squad led all but three laps of the 71 completed in the top split, with the ironically numbered #71 BMW M8 GTE of Jonas Wallmeier and Gianni Vecchio holding off the #72 team car of Max Verstappen and Daniel Juncadella in a photo finish.
The pole-winning car of VRS Coanda Simsport, shared by Mitchell deJong and Josh Rogers, completed the podium, barely holding off the R8G Esports entry of Scott Andrews and Maarten van Loozenoord for the decisive spot. 32 of the 44 teams to run the top split managed to complete all 71 laps, including dozens of drivers with current iRacing World Championship licenses.
The BMW Sim GT Cup will feature 10 races over the course of 2021, split into two seasons. The first five-race season will feature the BMW M8 GTE, while the second will shift to the new BMW M4 GT3 that made its iRacing debut in December. Each race features a mandatory driver changeover and a $4,200 prize pool split among the top three finishers in the top split, with the winning duo taking home $2,400. The remaining four rounds of 2021 Season 1 are as follows:
- March 7: Suzuka International Circuit
- March 21: Silverstone Circuit
- May 2: Road Atlanta
- Mat 16: Nurburgring GP-Strecke
Results from Sunday’s BMW Sim GT Cup top split race at Daytona International Speedway were as follows:
Fin. | St. | No. | Team | Laps | Interval | Led | Best |
| 1 | 6 | 71 | Team Redline Blue | 71 | 34 | 1:40.290 | |
| 2 | 3 | 72 | Team Redline Orange | 71 | -0.048 | 34 | 1:40.373 |
| 3 | 1 | 3 | VRS Coanda Simsport $8 | 71 | -11.250 | 0 | 1:40.194 |
| 4 | 8 | 5 | R8G Esports #1 | 71 | -11.427 | 0 | 1:40.284 |
| 5 | 19 | 89 | BS COMPETITION | 71 | -13.518 | 0 | 1:40.761 |
| 6 | 10 | 4 | Triple A Esports #216 | 71 | -18.023 | 0 | 1:40.461 |
| 7 | 15 | 16 | Zennith Esports AOSystems | 71 | -18.025 | 0 | 1:40.536 |
| 8 | 4 | 88 | VRS Coanda Simsport $88 | 71 | -18.398 | 0 | 1:40.536 |
| 9 | 14 | 4 | R8G Jr #2 | 71 | -18.884 | 0 | 1:40.526 |
| 10 | 7 | 8 | R8G Esports #8 | 71 | -18.922 | 0 | 1:40.619 |
| 11 | 9 | 13 | Maniti Racing | 71 | -38.501 | 0 | 1:40.802 |
| 12 | 2 | 81 | VRS Coanda Simsport $81 | 71 | -46.731 | 0 | 1:40.248 |
| 13 | 12 | 90 | BS NXT | 71 | -46.817 | 0 | 1:40.596 |
| 14 | 16 | 15 | R8G Jr #1 | 71 | -49.554 | 0 | 1:40.771 |
| 15 | 5 | 17 | Brazillian Mates 2.0 | 71 | -49.970 | 0 | 1:40.380 |
| 16 | 24 | 21 | AXA SimSport $138 | 71 | -54.403 | 0 | 1:40.817 |
| 17 | 39 | 1 | Team Redline Red | 71 | -59.651 | 0 | 1:40.378 |
| 18 | 17 | 2 | R8G Esports #2 | 71 | -1:00.929 | 0 | 1:40.974 |
| 19 | 26 | 6 | URANO eSports HUAWEI | 71 | -1:01.251 | 3 | 1:40.650 |
| 20 | 27 | 217 | Triple A Esports #217 | 71 | -1:02.777 | 0 | 1:40.878 |
| 21 | 21 | 222 | Finesse SimSports Red | 71 | -1:06.601 | 0 | 1:40.727 |
| 22 | 41 | 7 | Momias Racing Team | 71 | -1:16.913 | 0 | 1:41.014 |
| 23 | 37 | 96 | BS TURNER | 71 | -1:17.586 | 0 | 1:41.148 |
| 24 | 34 | 26 | H4SR X RaceKraft | 71 | -1:19.994 | 0 | 1:40.976 |
| 25 | 22 | 19 | Obsidian Racing | 71 | -1:23.995 | 0 | 1:40.873 |
| 26 | 28 | 90 | URANO eSports HP | 71 | -1:25.863 | 0 | 1:41.087 |
| 27 | 36 | 78 | Ronin SimSport | 71 | -1:25.977 | 0 | 1:41.076 |
| 28 | 18 | 18 | VRS Coanda Simsport $18 | 71 | -1:26.252 | 0 | 1:40.605 |
| 29 | 30 | 12 | HM Engineering | 71 | -1:26.255 | 0 | 1:41.122 |
| 30 | 31 | 140 | Looking For Team | 71 | -1:41.619 | 0 | 1:40.830 |
| 31 | 38 | 22 | Demon Tweeks eSports | 71 | -1:47.529 | 0 | 1:41.187 |
| 32 | 29 | 25 | LEGO Racing Team | 71 | -2:26.451 | 0 | 1:41.125 |
| 33 | 25 | 9 | Williams Esports | 70 | -1 L | 0 | 1:40.750 |
| 34 | 32 | 20 | AXA SimSport $128 | 70 | -1 L | 0 | 1:41.256 |
| 35 | 35 | 23 | 5Star Motorsport Blue | 70 | -1 L | 0 | 1:41.092 |
| 36 | 42 | 10 | Zecarul eSports #10 | 70 | -1 L | 0 | 1:41.302 |
| 37 | 20 | 11 | Triple A Esports #218 | 70 | -1 L | 0 | 1:40.771 |
| 38 | 33 | 93 | URANO eSports | 59 | -12 L | 0 | 1:40.925 |
| 39 | 23 | 14 | Zennith Esports | 59 | -12 L | 0 | 1:40.802 |
| 40 | 40 | 24 | Vendaval Simracing Blue | 50 | -21 L | 0 | 1:41.296 |
| 41 | 11 | 707 | KOVA | 43 | -28 L | 0 | 1:40.573 |
| 42 | 13 | 70 | Team Redline Purple | 42 | -29 L | 0 | 1:41.291 |
| 43 | 43 | 33 | Team Alexey Nesov | 0 | -71 L | 0 | |
| 44 | 44 | 27 | URANO eSports HKM | 0 | -71 L | 0 |
For more information on BMW Motorsport, including BMW Motorsport Sim Racing, visit www.bmw-motorsport.com. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.
