The inaugural season of the V10 R-League came to a thrilling conclusion as the top two teams in the table battled it out in the finale of this uniquely formatted racing series around the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi – with Porsche24 Redline securing the title in the last race.
Williams Esports, sitting three points behind their final round opponents and league leaders
Porsche24 Redline, needed to make it a clean sweep of all three races in their match up to steal the
championship win.
The V10 R-League features matches played over three race formats - Head to Heads, the Relay Race
and Team Race - with a point towards the league standings up for grabs in each.
Williams came out on top over Porsche in the Head to Heads with some thrilling and risky racing
before holding firm in the Relay Race to pick up a second point and make sure that the final Team
Race was a winner takes all finale.
It all started brilliantly for the Williams team, taking P1 and P2 at the first corner and keeping Porsche at bay until the fourth lap as contender for driver of the season, Michal Smidl, closed the gap and began to put the Williams drivers under scrutiny.
Heading into the final sector of lap four the pressure showed and Smidl and Atze Kerkhof for Porsche attacked, stealing second place with a pincer overtake, squeezing the Williams driver Nikodem Wisniewski into a spin and a collision with his own team mate, Martin Stefanko.
Smart defensive driving from Smidl and the rest of the Porsche drivers ensured that they did enough to secure the inaugural V10 R-League title.
A previous Williams pit lane violation from the Relay Race was later confirmed by the stewards to
further effect the final standings and Porsche finished the season three points clear at the top.
BMW Motorsport SIM Racing Team and Red Bull Racing Esports had also faced off for third and
fourth with the Red Bull team coming out on top with a 3-0 win, leapfrogging BMW in the final
standings to claim the last step on the podium.
In the bottom half of the league YAS HEAT pulled off a 2-1 win over BWT Racing Point Esports but it
was only enough to retain seventh in the table with Racing Point holding fifth.
JAESA Team Suzuki, finishing sixth in the standings, shared a 1-1 draw with Team Fordzilla - placed
eighth overall – in an action-packed race to complete the seventh round fixtures.
All eight sim racing teams share the £100,000 prize money based on their positions, with Porsche
coming away with the winning cheque for £30,000.
The Season 1 V10 R-League final standings are as below:
| Standings Position | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Porsche | 17 |
| 02 | Williams | 14 |
| 03 | Red Bull | 13 |
| 04 | BMW | 12 |
| 05 | Racing Point | 8 |
| 06 | Suzuki | 7 |
| 07 | Yas Heat | 6 |
| 08 | Fordzilla | 2 |
Michal Smidl, Porsche24 Redline’s star driver, said following their win, “I really liked the whole
championship. The short races were very intense and showed who can cope with the pressure. The
V10 R-League format is interesting and truly unconventional in the world of sim racing. I'm glad I
could be a part of the first season and I can't wait for the upcoming season. The winning feeling after we secured the championship was absolutely phenomenal.”
Team Principal of Porsche24 Redline, Diederik Kinds, said, “It has been a great season for us with
fantastic results, also very tough battles. We believe we fought hard for every single point out there.
We did have a comfortable lead going into the final, and we only needed one heat win to seal the
deal. However, it would have been very easy to lose to Williams so we had to be switched on and do our best. Our dedication has been very strong, with our eyes always on the prize. We gave everything to win this championship.”
The inaugural season of the V10 R-League has been broadcast to millions across BT Sport, ESPN,
STARZPLAY Arabia and online. Season 2 is confirmed and will return in early 2021, bigger and better.
John Clarke, CEO at Gfinity, said, “The success of the first season is largely down to the commitment
of the teams and drivers to this new format. We promised drama and anyone watching the final
round certainly got that. As we look ahead to Season 2 we now have a series that has been seen by
millions globally. We are excited to share that a range of conversations are happening that will
enable us to supersize the championship and continue Gfinity’s commitment to being the driving
force of digital motorsport, one of the world’s fastest growing sports.”
Saif Al Noaimi, ADMM Acting CEO, said, “The V10 R-League has welcomed the very best teams and
drivers from around the world to compete in Series 1, creating fantastic on-track action and
significant, global viewer engagement. The programme is delivering fantastic results and Series 2
will build on this success. This is testament to our strategy of working with Gfinity, in bringing
together the best people to deliver best in class esports racing products.”
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