It has been promised all-season long, but today at round six of the E1 Championship, GT Radial Eurasia Motorsport showed superb pace with Inigo Anton to secure their first podium together, following a fine drive to third position at Circuit Zandvoort.
While Inigo is still chasing his first victory with the team, today’s performance was certainly the standout result of the season to date. The young Filipino showing great pace throughout the second 30-minute event, keeping pressure on the race leader, before ultimately dropping back to third in the final lap courtesy of excessive tyre wear.
Indeed, both Inigo and teammate Wakkeen Garrido showed a good turn of speed over the day of eSports racing. It started with a 15-minute sprint race with Inigo starting from eighth position and pressuring former race winner Mikko Nassi throughout the opening laps, only to suffer a puncture. A similar fate befell teammate Wakkeen in the first event, but for the former, the reverse grid for race two fell his way.
Starting second, Inigo spent much of the race chasing pole-sitter Naquib Azlan. Visibly quicker in the middle sector of the lap, he could close on the Stratos Motorsport racer into turn one, Tarzan, but ultimately did not have the straight-line speed to pull off the move.
All of the front-runners opted to run the softer tyres, allowing good initial pace, but for Inigo, this meant that the final couple of laps were a case of damage limitation. Despite his considerable efforts, he had been unable to wrestle the lead from Azlan, and with the E1 series leader Muhammad Asleef making a charge from behind, ceded his second position heading into the final tour.
Still, third position was a fine result, a confidence boost for both the driver and GT Radial Eurasia Motorsport as a whole heading into the final two rounds of E1 season 1. Wakkeen, meanwhile, also enjoyed his best run of the season, lapping firmly in the top ten, whilst making gains by the lap. Sadly late-race contact with a backmarker to effectively end his day.
With confidence high, the team now prepare for the penultimate round of the championship, which takes place at the super-tight Hungaroring next Wednesday.
Mark Goddard, GT Radial Eurasia Motorsport Team Principal
“I’m happy with the progress today and a podium is deserved after the effort put in by the drivers and our engineer, Han Lip Tan over the past week in testing. The guys just need to get a handle on saving tyre wear – whilst remaining fast – and a race win for the GT Radial car is certainly possible.”
