Niklas has been a member from the start of iRacing and has a wide experience of both GT cars and prototypes. He joins Hellracers from Nomad Simracing and will make his first appearance in a Hellracers car when he tackles the Bathurst 12 hours this weekend.
Final race in the DGFX endurance series! For both cars, the championship title was within reach so it would all come down to the last 10 hour race of the series. The LMP1 car started off well, starting from pole and increasing the lead to a comfortable 30 second gap to second place. A few hours into the race, things started to go south after a miscalculation in the fuel strategy and the car ended up two laps behind the leader. Even though the team, this time consisting of all three LMP1 drivers Hampus Baaz, Andreas Olsson and Magnus Vallström, put in great laps, such a gap is hard to close and the car ended up in fifth place in the end. The championship results are yet to be confirmed.
The GTE car did quite the opposite journey. Although it started in second place, it fell down to last place after a driver mistake just two laps into the race. During the same incident, the car collected damage leading to reduced speed and what before the race felt like a certain top position did now feel far away. But after some great driving and solid pit strategies, the GTE car led the race with just 15 minutes to go. Since the main competitor, Heusinkveld, had issues and were in 11th place, things started looking good for the championship. Then, things fell apart quickly; the car in second place with its fresh tires overtook our car, the damage still being a factor for our car with the reduced top speed. Just minutes later, the GTE cars in fourth and fifth place collided leaving one of them in the pits with severe damage. Therefore, the Heusinkveld could overtake that car still standing in the pits, and our championship title slipped out of our hands (yet to be confirmed, though). Given the early incident, the second place that the car finished in felt like a decent result but the driver team, Jonas Bodin, Stellan Lindeberg and Wilhelm Wiberg, felt that they could do better.
24 hours of racing is a long time! The way of thinking when it comes to strategy and attitude towards the race and overtaking becomes something completely different. Especially at a track like Daytona, where the long straights gives a massive opportunity for drafting and fuel saving.
This was our first 24 hour race as a team, and while several team members had raced long races before in other teams, all of us looked forward to taking on this massive task as Hellracers. Our car choice this time was the Corvette C7 Daytona Prototype, the only car competing in the fastest class in this race (the other two classes being GT3 and GTE). Why choose this car? Well, though none of us had actually driven it seriously, and some of us had to buy it for the first time in order to prepare for this race, we discovered that it is a really fun car to drive and for all of us it was something different from the GT3s and GTEs that we normally drive.
Except for the qualification, where a rookie mistake led to the car being damaged during the qualification laps and us starting in 10th position, the start of the race felt really good. We quickly climbed in positions and after a few hours, even though we chased the leader with around 20 seconds between us, we were on a fuel strategy that would in the end close that gap or even let us overtake them just by strategy alone. When the sun went down at Daytona and our night drivers took over, we were in a steady second place with margins both up and down, but still with an advantage in fuel strategy over the leaders.
We had car contacts a few times, an unfortunate GTE car turned us around spinning in turn 1, barely missing the walls, but we still were in a position where we fought for the win. 15 hours in, another car contact when a lapped DP missed their braking point, spinning us into the path of a GT3 car and … car was too damaged to continue and had to be repaired. After repairs, the result was that this accident put us down 5 laps from the leader, and all chances of a good position in the race were basically over.
However, it didn’t feel right to just park the car, so the morning drivers took over and drove the car until the finish line where we ended in P8, still a respectable position given the competition but very unsatisfactory given our pace and strategy.
The drivers who put in their best this time and will come back for revenge were Jonas Bodin, Stellan Lindeberg, Marcus Simonsson, Magnus Vallström and Wilhelm Wiberg. Thanks to you all for a great effort, thanks to the rest of the team for great support, thanks to Tershine for broadcasting our race and thanks to you for reading this! :-)
We should also mention the winners in our split, one of the Kinetic Racing cars who did the 24 hour race with just two drivers, racing 12 hours each! Well done to you both, great performance!
Time for the third race of the Clubsport series and to take on the challenging curves of the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park with the added difficulty of managing the intense traffic. Marcus Simonsson and Hampus Baaz took on the challenge to pilot the 911 GT3 Cup with Hellracers’ colors on it, to take revenge on the last race where the car said hello to the barriers surrounding the Brands Hatch circuit.
It started off with some technical difficulties in the qualification session, leading to Marcus starting 11th - far from where he wanted to be. Once the green flag flew, he started to climb in positions though, and once it was time for Hampus the car was up in a podium position. A lot of cars had problems with the traffic and it was an intense fight for positions while managing the slower classes. Our car flew through traffic without too many scratches, and even though we couldn’t challenge the NAB Racing car for the victory in the end, the car crossed the finish line in second place with a comfortable cushion down to Meraki Racing in third place.
In hunt of getting a good chance of the championship title, both cars took place at the starting line of this four hour endurance race on the Silverstone track, newly updated in iRacing to reflect the latest rendition of the track. The second to last race of the season and both cars in second place in the league table meant that all points were really valuable. Well, they always are, but in order to have a good chance on the title it meant that we needed to take points on the overall leaders.
The qualification round went fairly well, and the LMP1 car started in third place with Magnus Vallström behind the wheel. The GTE car, driven by Wilhelm Wiberg, started in second place in class. The first stints were rather uneventful, some collisions are always bound to happen with this many cars divided in four different classes, and a pace car went out on track after just 10 minutes of racing. However, this turned out to be the only pace car during the race, leading to all pit stops for fuel and tires being done during green flag.
Magnus and Wilhelm handed over the cars without too many scratches about halfway through the race, and Andreas Olsson (LMP1) and Jonas Bodin (GTE) took over the wheels. The GTE car was in the lead, but the different teams ran with slightly different fuel strategies so it wasn’t obvious by how much. The LMP1 car once again found itself chasing the PCDC Motorsports Argon entry, which is currently leading the championship.
With about half an hour to go, the LMP1 car was fairly comfortable in second position with not much chance of either losing to third place or gaining the first position, and they cruised home another second place. The GTE car, with a strategy including running the last set of tires for a bit longer than is typically recommended, unfortunately ended up spinning out and the battle for first place became a last lap fight for tenths of a second, even though the race went on for four hours. The Heusinkveld car with its newer tires drew the longest straw and our GTE car had to see itself losing the fight.
Unfortunately, even though both cars took a commendable second place, they both lost again to the leaders in each class. This means that the last race, 10 hours of Catalunya on the 1st of February, with its double points will be deciding for the championship, but it will also require an extraordinary effort from both cars - and some luck. Write down the date in your calendars already now, you don’t want to miss it!
Hampus Baaz had to pack his virtual suitcase and leave his damaged GT3 Cup car in the UK, because it was once again time to take place behind the wheel of his favourite rocketship, the Hellracers LMP1 car, competing for the championship in the DGFX Endurance series. His companion for the day, Andreas Olsson, dusted off the spiderwebs from his rig and prepared for a hectic day at the track. For six hours, they were to run around the fairly short Laguna Seca track in intense traffic. It’s a short track, about 3600m, and the LMP1 car laps it in just over a minute, meaning that over 6 hours they were going to see the same corners just a few too many times to stay sane.
In Hellracers’ other entry in the league, the GTE car, sat Marcus Simonsson - our unofficial Laguna Seca expert - and Jonas Bodin, making his DGFX Endurance debut for Hellracers. Jonas, also just arriving after having spent the weekend before in the GT3 Cup car together with Hampus, had to readjust once again to a new car, since the Ferrari GTE has not been his typical weapon of choice in the GTE class. No problems as far as anyone could see - Jonas put in some respectable laps, and in the end, the pace was not what was going to set the fate for our GTE entry…
After a decent qualification, the LMP1 starting 4th and the GTE starting 6th, the name of the game was to stay in one piece and keep the cars unharmed from the immense amount of traffic. With such a short track and no less than four different classes, the number of overtakes is insane! Our plan seemed to work and midway through, both cars were running P1-P2 tempo with a good chance on a great result. Some were left behind due to our pace, some contenders fell out due to mistakes, others by getting stop&go penalties. However, our cars were unharmed and with no penalties and a good pace, we were all in all in a good place.
But, this was not our race to win, it would seem. Both cars got involved in accidents with about two hours to go, the other parties in the accidents getting punishments but that didn’t help with repairing the damage to our cars. Instead, the GTE car got stuck in the pits getting repairs while the LMP1 car could continue on track, however with a lowered top speed due to damage. In the end, we had to settle for a third place (LMP1) and a ninth place (GTE) which is not reflecting the true pace of the cars. However, it also is about keeping the car in one piece and you get severely punished when you fail to do that, no matter if it is in your hands or not.
With that said, two races to go where the last race gives double points means that we still are very much in contention for the championship title in both classes. We’ll start off 2020 with a 4 hour race at the (in iRacing) newly updated Silverstone track, see you there!
Time for race 2 in the DGFX Clubsport series! This race was scheduled just a few days after one of the four yearly major patches from iRacing. This time around, our car in the series, the Porsche GT3 Cup car got a major update on several parts, but most importantly the tire model. Jonas Bodin and Hampus Baaz, our two pilots for the race, spent the week practicing and tried to get accustomed to the new feeling of the car. Once Saturday came, it was the end of practice and time to get serious!
Jonas qualified the car in fifth place, and showed that the team was contending for a top position also in this race. The competitors are starting to get accustomed to the name - Hellracers. After some incidents in the start, where poor HughJass went off already in the first curve - new tire model, remember - Jonas picked up a few spots and things started to look promising. Third place, and it was time for the next pilot behind the wheel - Hampus!
Unfortunately, after only a handful of laps, the new tire model and car updates got the better of Hampus and he spun out, hitting the tire wall and causing some damage to the car. After the repairs, the car was a few laps down from the leaders and the rest of the race went towards learning about the new car updates in a race environment to be as well prepared as we can for the next race. We ended up in 13th place, but with a lot of new lessons learned.
In the end, Team Helimedia won the GT3 Cup class in a convincing manner with over a lap down to the next car, the Gold Racing Team with another good result. Congratulations to you guys, and see you in a month!
Another league has now had its first race of the season, the DGFX Clubsport series. It is a multi-class league featuring the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, the new-to-iRacing Audi RS3 LMS TCR car and the Mazda MX-5 Cup. It’s an endurance league with races ranging from 2.4 hours to 4 hours of length. Hellracers are competing with a 911 GT3 Cup car, to get some variation from our GTE and LMP1 races.
This first race took place at Okayama, one of the tracks that are included for free in the iRacing subscription. It’s a track that includes most of what you want in a track, some sweeping corners that you can take in higher speeds, a back-straight followed by a hair-pin inviting to overtakes, a technical section with low speed corners and some elevation changes to mix it up.
Hampus Baaz and Marcus Simonsson put on their Hellracers racing suits for the race, but had a rough start where they had issues during the qualification and had to start second to last (20th position in the GT3 Cup field). Their tempo deserved a better spot in the field, but sometimes things go wrong and you have to put your head down and make the best of it.
Not even three laps later, the Hellracers car was up to 11th place and the hunt for the top 10 had begun. Or top 5? Or what pace did they have? As this was the first race of the season, it was hard to get a feeling for how far this could go.
It should be said that some passes were done due to others making a mistake, the GT3 Cup is a brutal mistress which can and will bite you if you don’t treat it right. But once the field settled in, it was down to pure racing and planned overtakes in order to climb the ladder. Due to slightly different fuel strategies, Hampus had a few laps in the lead before handing over the car to Marcus. But after the dust settled in the pit stalls, Marcus was still in a top 10 position with about half of the race still left.
It was after the last pit stop that things got really interesting. Hellracers chose to not take new tires in the last pit stop while several other teams had to replace the tires since they ran on really old tires. This changed things up and Hellracers were suddenly in P3, with a real chance to finish on the podium. Marcus continued to push and kept things clean, which the second place didn’t manage causing them to spin out. P2! A few laps later, Marcus had caught up to the Helimedia Porsche and overtook them for the race lead, according to himself with a beautiful overtake. We choose to believe him.
Looking back in the field, the Gold Racing Team Porsche looked strong and had a good tempo and fresh tires. However, once their tires wore off the gap was pretty much constant and even though I think Marcus felt a tiny drop of sweat, he kept his cool and took the car over the finish line in first place! A remarkable performance by Marcus and Hampus to after a mishap in the qualification take the car from P20 to P1 over these 2.4 hours! Impressive!
Congratulations to the Gold Racing Team for a well fought race and a second place and to the Racekraft E-sports Slide car for their third place in the GT3 Cup field! Congratulations also to the Mivano Simracing Team for an impressive P1-P2 in the MX-5 class and to Alpinestars Geodesic Racing for the win in the very tight and competitive TCR class! See you all at Brands Hatch in December!
If you want to see the racing action yourself, take a look at the broadcast from iRacing eSports Network at this link.
For the third race of the DGFX season, we went to a slightly more unconventional track for multiclass racing. The Belle Isle track is a street track, taking place on the streets of the island in Detroit. Street track means a lot of walls around the track, often tight corners and a track surface that is not as smooth as the tracks usually are. The walls mean that any accident is often followed by more accidents, as the cars have nowhere to go and bounces back on track. The bumpy street surface is not something the LMP1 cars typically race on, as they are built for smooth tracks with very little ground clearance and aerodynamics that is dependent on that the car is close to the ground.
With all this in mind, it was with a mix of expectations, fear and respect that the two Hellracers cars took place on the grid. The main goal of the race was merely to keep the cars rolling without being involved in any major incident, and with that, we expected to get a good finish.
With some close calls along the way and some bad luck in the timing of safety cars (once again, the strategy becomes a crap-shoot since you don’t know when the next pace car will come out), we are proud of our results. The LMP1 car, this time handled by Andreas Olsson and Magnus Vallström ended up in an impressive second place. While the GTE car, with Wilhelm Wiberg and Victor Dravegård behind the wheel, with an unfortunate timing of the pace car leading to a late splash-and-dash stop, ending up in a fourth place. The third place was well within reach, but they managed their fuel better at the end of the race.
Both cars still maintain a second place in the league standings with half of the season left to race. A little more luck is needed with the pace car timing, but the pace is definitely in place. Now, we look forward to the next race, taking place at Laguna Seca in December.
Just one week after the Petit Le Mans, it was time for the second race of the season in the DGFX league. Moving from the narrow Watkins Glen to the much wider Circuit of the Americas (COTA) meant that a very different type of race was to be expected. The wide run-off zones of COTA makes it possible for a crashed car to limp back to the pits, or a tow zone, without disturbing the ongoing race, meaning that the need for pace car is very much reduced.
This was also the case, COTA offered a race with very few pace car laps and mostly open racing, which in the end is what all teams prefer. The wide track also offers a lot of overtaking opportunities for the faster classes with only a few places where it is hard to fit two cars next to each other (such as the esses).
With less involvement between the classes, it opens up for more racing within each class. In this race, there were some nice duels and some actual fighting for positions. However, as expected, when racing for six hours and with different fuel strategies, for long periods of time you are driving “by yourself” and focusing on managing traffic. The mix of it and the feeling of accomplishment when finishing is part of what makes endurance racing such a thrill.
This race was almost a perfect double by Hellracers, but after being involved in an incident, the LMP1 car piloted by Hampus Baaz and Magnus Vallström, had to settle with second place, starting from third. Still, a very respectable position in this field! Marcus Simonsson and Stellan Lindeberg managed to take Hellracers’ first win in DGFX in the GTE car, a really strong performance! They started from pole position, the second pole in a row, and kept their nerves.