The penultimate event of the 2026 Sim Racing World Championship concluded on Thursday after Round 8 and 9 around Zandvoort and Circuit of The Americas, with the best Esports drivers out there fighting it out for glory at the F1 Media and Technology Centre in Biggin Hill.
Both races were filled with late drama, bold strategy, and plenty of shocks, as Otis Lawrence took a huge step towards sim racing glory, and Alpine took control of the race for the Constructors’ Championship
Here is a recap of Thursday’s sessions…
Round 8 – The Netherlands
Zandvoort is another tricky track for making moves, so it was yet another crucial Qualifying session for the field to navigate. Ismael Fassi found out how tight the margins were in Q2 the hard way, missing the top-10 shootout by just six thousandths of a second, with Tom Manley and Jake Benham also suffering an early exit.
After the first runs in Q3, Frederik Rasmussen, Lawrence and Bari Broumand looked like the three to beat, separated by less than a tenth. However, a costly mistake by championship leader Lawrence left him in P5, having spun out at Turn 14. Instead, Red Bull’s Rasmussen took his third pole of the season, as Broumand, Ruben Pedreno, and Nicolas Longuet rounded out the top four.
A textbook start from Rasmussen left the Dane comfortably in P1, while Broumand and Pedreno battled it out side-by-side for half a lap before the Iranian eventually kept hold of his P2. The early stages were hampered by a lengthy DRS train, but strategy quickly opened the door for some movement in the field. Defending champion Jarno Opmeer pitted early on Lap 7 at his home race for a two-stop strategy, with the leaders sticking to a one-stop, boxing around five laps later.
The original top five were in the same order with a few laps to go, setting up a potential grandstand finish. Zandvoort delivered exactly that, as into Turn 1 on the final lap, Broumand in the Ferrari made his move for the win, sending it down the inside of Rasmussen. The pair were neck and neck through Turn 2 before the Ferrari used the inside line to pull clear on the banked Turn 3, leaving Rasmussen scrambling to keep himself on the track, and the Iranian clear to take the victory.
An incredible win for the man who missed the first half of the season, but one we should have been expecting given his pedigree and his victory here last season. Rasmussen was gutted in P2, but he took his fourth podium in a row, with Aston Martin’s Pedreno finishing third to end a run of four races without a point.
Elsewhere, Lawrence’s P5 was enough to maintain his lead in the Drivers’ Championship, Jake Benham’s brilliant overcut strategy allowed him to move from P15 to P7, and Opmeer’s late overtakes were enough to claim a point.
Round 9 – USA
Mixed conditions returned for COTA Qualifying, as the field did their best to handle the slippery track in Q1, before attempting one lap each on slicks to close the session – high stakes indeed. Previous podium-sitters Pedreno and Alfie Butcher just missed out, while in Q2, Duncan Hofland was the unlucky man, missing the shootout by just under half a tenth.
With the track now fully dry, the margins were razor thin – but even for Sim Racing standards, a gap of one thousandth is extreme! However, that’s precisely the gap that separated the Williams of Longuet and the Alpine of Dani Bereznay. It was Longuet who came out on top, taking his first pole of the season, with both Alpines completing the top three. The Red Bulls of Rasmussen and Opmeer were in P4 and P10, respectively, after the Dutchman crashed on his final lap.
There were plenty of dramatic twists in the evening’s race, starting with the Alpine duo both jumping polesitter Longuet on Lap 1. A lengthy DRS train kept the field locked together in the early stages, and it wasn’t until the gap between the Alpines opened that things began to move – Lawrence took the lead as Bereznay dropped back to play the team game and hold up the field.
Pit stops shuffled the order, with the top three switching to hard tyres early on Lap 8 and 9, while Rasmussen, Thomas Ronhaar, and Hofland all boxed on Lap 17 for mediums on the alternate strategy. However, Rasmussen was deemed to have exited the pits unsafely, earning him a five-second penalty and leaving him with a mountain to climb with ten laps to go if he wanted a podium finish.
The Dane made the most of his fresh tyres, making up two seconds a lap and overtaking team mate Opmeer, who played the team game to let Rasmussen past, having not pitted. Rasmussen then swept past Bereznay and Lawrence to take the lead, but with his fading tyres and a looming penalty, he couldn’t build a big enough gap out in front – despite crossing the line first, he tumbled to eighth.
Lawrence inherited the win, completing a superb Alpine 1-2 with Bereznay to give the team a lead in the Constructors’, while Longuet took a well-deserved third and kept his title hopes alive. Hofland and Fahssi made up the top five, with defending champion Opmeer way down in P16.
Standings
Lawrence took a huge step towards the Drivers’ Championship after his P5 and P1, extending his lead to Rasmussen to 25 points. Elsewhere, Longuet climbs to third, with Fahssi and Opmeer making up the rest of the top five.
There was a lead change in the Constructors’ Championship thanks to Alpine’s 1-2 at COTA – they leapfrogged Red Bull and lead by 15 points with three races to go. Ferrari, Williams, and Racing Bulls follow, separated by just 14 points.
