deJong, Rogers Team Up to Dominate BMW SIM GT Cup at Silverstone

Luck finally went the way of Mitchell deJong and Joshua Rogers in the top split of Sunday’s BMW SIM GT Cup round at Silverstone Circuit, as the duo led nearly every lap of the 63-lap race to take their first checkered flag of the year in the series. Rogers qualified on pole and dominated the early stretch, while deJong stepped in for the second half of the race and held off the second place team of race starter Maximilian Benecke and closer Enzo Bonito, winners two weeks ago at Suzuka, by 3.401 seconds. Chris Lulham and Daniel Juncadella completed the podium.

With the highest strength of field yet in a BMW SIM GT Cup top split in 2021, well exceeding 7400, the racing was intense among a lineup of capable drivers. 24 of the 36 starters qualified within a second of one another to set the grid, while 23 made it to the finish on the lead lap, and another six only finished one lap down. However, in spite of Benecke and Bonito pressuring Rogers and deJong for the race lead, only Mikkel Gade and Matti Sipila registered a lap led apiece during the pit cycle to break up the winning duo’s perfect race.

Max Verstappen’s continued bid to win a BMW SIM GT Cup race suffered an early blow after damage in contact with Ayhancan Guven on Lap 6; he would fall outside of the top 10 as a result. Teammate Gianni Vecchio would take over at the halfway point and never leave the top 10 after the pit cycle, helping the duo recover to finish eighth.

Top split results from Sunday’s BMW SIM GT Cup round at Silverstone were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Team

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

118VRS Coanda Simsport $863611:54.263
221Team Redline Red63-3.40101:54.301
356Team Redline Purple63-7.32901:54.566
4388VRS Coanda Simsport $8863-13.34801:54.457
5771Team Redline Blue63-22.71301:54.721
61489BS COMPETITION BLUE63-29.26901:54.583
711474MSi eSports 12063-30.03901:54.725
8433Team Redline Orange63-33.60401:54.921
91799Apex Racing Team $9963-34.08501:54.689
101290BS COMPETITION RED63-36.32011:54.697
11881VRS Coanda Simsport $8163-37.88701:54.891
129777KOVA $77763-41.32901:54.675
13618VRS Coanda Simsport $1863-42.59501:54.893
142448VRS Coanda Simsport $4863-46.65601:54.735
15132R8G Esports #863-51.85101:54.843
16184Team Fordzilla Kiwi63-55.44601:55.149
1710707KOVA $70763-1:05.66511:54.585
18203URANO eSports HUAWEI63-1:11.21601:55.170
19195URANO eSports HP63-1:26.95501:55.022
2021217Triple A Esports $21763-1:37.57001:55.071
212727Lotema Racing Team63-1:42.44001:54.947
223378Ronin SimSport63-2:25.27801:55.641
2331219Triple A Esports $21963-2:32.00801:55.224
2415450Biela Racing Team EURONICS62-1 L01:54.843
2530227Lotema Racing Carbon62-1 L01:55.378
26259Triple A Esports $22062-1 L01:55.103
273410AXA SimSport $13862-1 L01:55.477
283677Volante Racing62-1 L01:55.800
292923Team Anatolia GTE62-1 L01:55.392
30161R8G Junior58-5 L01:54.711
3132115Star Motorsport Blue48-15 L01:55.525
3222178Maniti Racing44-19 L01:54.904
3328218Triple A Esports $2180-63 L0
342337Sportteam Competicion0-63 L0
353586Aquiver Motorsports Huutokaupat.com0-63 L0
36267URANO eSports HEINEKINGMEDIA0-63 L0

 

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 rounds of 2021 Season 1 are as follows:

  • May 2: Road Atlanta
  • May 16: Nurburgring GP-Strecke

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.