Round six of the Premier Sim Gaming Leagues Season 32 PC division took to Spain where Thomas Ronhaar was victorious.
The F1 Esports’ Rookie of the Year took victory last time out at Brazil, and his second successive win moves him 21 points clear of his fellow Dutchman in the standings.
Bari Boroumand claimed the final spot on the podium in his first race since switching to Ferrari.
QUALIFYING
There were shocks in the first part of qualifying after Marcel Kiefer, Jake Benham, and Tomek Poradzisz failed to improve on their second runs and were out of Q1.
Debutant Xander van Dijken and Alexander Kraft joined the three F1 Esports drivers in the bottom five.
Every remaining F1 Esports driver managed to get into Q3, with Jack West narrowly missing out in 11th.
Spaniard Iker Baena could not find the time to get into Q3 at his home race and joined Istvan Puki, Jan Haladej, and Boualem Ferah in the drop zone.
After looking quickest in the first two sessions, Thomas Ronhaar unsurprisingly took another pole position ahead of former Alpine teammates Nicolas Longuet and Fabrizio Donoso.
Jarno Opmeer beat Bari Boroumand to fourth place ahead of Andrey Tarabukin, Otis Lawrence, Filip Presnajder, Wilson Hughes, and Max Wissel in tenth.
RACE
There were even starts at the front, with the top seven sustaining their places: Presnajder getting the worst start of anyone after dropping to tenth.
It got even worse for the Alpine F1 Esports driver after coming off worse in a three-wide moment at Turn 7, causing him to drop to the rear of the field.
Amid the drama, Lawrence got a great run on Tarabukin ahead and swept past the Russian into sixth.
On Lap 9, Opmeer knew he had to start making up for lost ground and set up Donoso ahead.
The Dutchman went around the outside of Turn 4 and completed the job with a late move on the inside of Turn 5 to move onto the podium.
Four laps later, Longuet overtook Ronhaar for the lead with a simple DRS overtake: it was crucial for Ferrari’s strategy.
The Frenchman started to back up the pack on Lap 16 after Boroumand boxed to swap onto the medium tyres.
Opmeer boxed the following lap, but the Iranian was well clear of the four-time PSGL champion.
Ronhaar managed to get back past Longuet and pitted the following lap to cover off two of his championship rivals.
With no battery left, Boroumand could not get past Ronhaar but was instead fending off Opmeer.
Despite having the DRS, the Iranian could not defend from the two-time F1 Esports champion and dropped to a net third.
There was a cat amongst the pigeons, with West praying for a Safety Car and causing a roadblock for the leaders.
Ronhaar managed to pass his fellow Xbox rival into Turn 1, with Opmeer eventually getting passed at Turn 5 and just kept the DRS from his fellow Dutchman ahead.
Boroumand could not get past the Welshman in time and lost DRS to the top two.
Behind the Iranian, Longuet launched an attack on Lawrence, with the pair going side-by-side for most of the lap with excellent wheel-to-wheel racing: the Welshman squeezing ahead before Longuet got back past into Turn 1.
There was heartbreak for Donoso, who lagged out the session after looking set in a solid sixth place in his first race since moving to Aston Martin.
All eyes were on the battle for the lead, with both drivers saving up their ERS for the final stages.
Onto the penultimate lap, Ronhaar got a nice exit out the final corner giving him just enough of a buffer to defend into the first corner.
Opmeer tried to pressurise his fellow Dutchman, but as Ronhaar does, he seemed unfazed and came home to take his second PSGL F1 win of the season.
Boroumand finished in third, ahead of Longuet and Lawrence.
Baena had a stunning drive to finish sixth from 12th.
Puki, Tarabukin, Wissel and Hughes completed the Top 10.
Next up, a trip to Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium for Round 7.
SEASON 32 PREMIER SIM GAMING LEAGUE PC F1 CHAMPIONSHIP: ROUND 6 RESULTS
- Thomas Ronhaar – Haas – 33 laps
- Jarno Opmeer – Mercedes
- Bari Boroumand – Ferrari
- Nicolas Longuet – Ferrari
- Otis Lawrence – Red Bull
- Iker Baena – Alpine
- Istvan Puki – Alpha Tauri
- Andrey Tarabukin – Alfa Romeo
- Max Wissel – Aston Martin
- Wilson Hughes – McLaren
