With a masterful performance around virtual Circuit Zolder, Tobias Dauenhauer won the final race of the EuroNASCAR Esports Series season on iRacing and captured the 2021 title by just 4 points on second-placed Guillaume Deflandre. With the ENES title, Dauenhauer also granted Hendriks Motorsport 40 points and the lead in the real-life NWES Teams Championships standings entering the May 15-16 NWES season opener at Valencia.
Dauenhauer, who won his first iRacing event at Zolder in 2020, entered the ENES Final trailing Deflandre by 6 points and his only sure option to snatch the title from Belgian’s hands was to win. As often happened during the season, the two were first and second in qualifying, with Deflandre scoring the Pole Position.
Despite losing the lead in the first few corners, the Speedhouse driver was once again dominant in his Heat and won the first 10-minute race by 6.335 seconds on Alessandro Brigatti and Simon Pilate, who sat third in points before the event. In Heat 2, Dauenhauer led from flag to flag ahead of Philipp Bereswill – the two Germans were separated by 5.558 seconds – and Not Only Motorsport’s Davide Dallara.
It all came down to the last Main Event race of the virtual season and the battle was exciting. In the opening lap, Deflandre and Dauenhauer were door-to-door several times and it was the #150 Mustang that came out on top, quickly building a gap on the #64 Speedhouse Camaro. Deflandre gave it his best to keep the pace but soon struggled with his tires and fell in the clutches of Simon Pilate and a battle for second that ended only in the last lap.
After 30 minutes and 19 laps around the iconic Circuit Zolder, Dauenhauer took the checkered flag with 11.628 seconds on Deflandre, who prevailed in the duel with Pilate. It was the second win of the season for the German, the third of his ENES career and the second at Zolder. The three drivers also climbed the virtual season podium, the title going to Dauenhauer by 4 points on Deflandre and 35 on Pilate.
Hockenheimring driver Philipp Bereswell and RDV Competition’s Ulysse Delsaux completed the top-5. Vladimiros Tziortzis won the battle for sixth place ahead of Alessandro Brigatti and Stefano Guastaveglie, who led the team members in the last event of the season. Davide Dalllara finished ninth ahead of Henri Tuomaala, who rounded out the top-10 coming from 27th on the grid and therefore earned the bonus points for the most positions gained. The Finn closed the season fourth in points ahead of Tziortzis.
While the EuroNASCAR Esports Series will return to action in 2022, it’s now time for real-life EuroNASCAR racing. The NWES season will open on May 15-16 at Valencia’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo and thanks to the ENES results, it will begin with the #50 Hendriks Motorsport Mustang leading the #64 Speedhouse Camaro, the #66 DF1 Racing Camaro, the #23 Iceboys-DF1 Racing Camaro and the #1 Academy Motorsport – Alex Caffi Motorsport Mustang in the Teams Championship.
NWES PR
