Round 5 of the SRO Sprint Monza race review. Williams Esports keep us up to date with how the race went.
Williams Esports had three drivers taking part in the SRO Sprint R5 at Monza last Wednesday, Championship leader Dáire McCormack in the Munster Rugby Gaming Bentley, Nikodem Wisniewski in the Mercedes-AMG Williams Esports and Tinko van der Velde in the Williams Esports Bentley.
Dáire needed to finish ahead of James Baldwin and David Tonizza to secure the Championship, but after a tough qualifying and an early spin, Daire’s hopes were dashed. He battled back to finish off the season in P2 behind his fierce rival Baldwin.
Tinko finished off his debut SRO season in 10th position after securing the final points scoring position at Monza. A solid effort and Tinko hopes to take his experience into next season. This was Niko’s first season on ACC and he learnt a lot on the game.
A number of point scoring races means he goes into next season with high hopes. Williams Esports would like to say thank you to all the hard work that the guys have put in over the last few months in the series. We will be back fighting for the title again next season!
Season Review Seb Hawkins, Team Manager
Season Overview
- We started the season looking very positive with a favourable car and driver combination. Dáire worked well with the Bentley to secure a maiden win in the opening round of the SRO EU Sprint series.
- The season had several highs as the team secured some strong results, Dáire winning again in Round 3.
- Of all the teams involved with AMG, Niko was able to show some of the best average pace across the field.
Season Challenges
- The BOP was always a challenge from the start to the end, and with the multiple manufacturers being used across the three drivers, it would be tough to find a perfect balance.
- Niko was new to ACC, and the Mercedes was not favoured by the BOP in the opening rounds of the season.
- Wet weather in the final round proved to be tricky, and with late BOP adjustments we had to work hard on providing relevant data to SRO to give us a chance in the race.
- The last round was tricky, as the rain impacted the Q performance which meant Dáire had to drive up through the pack with the hope of keeping the points advantage.
All in all, we were very happy with the performance of the drivers this season. We have a clearer understanding of how to approach the next season, and we can walk away happy with result. Dáire’s P2 was brilliant for Munster Rugby Gaming!
Quotes from the drivers
DÁIRE MCCORMACK: “I really couldn’t have pushed myself any harder this season. Although I’m delighted with P2, if the last two races would have gone my way, I would have won the title. It gives me more fire to fight harder next season. Round 1 at Misano was a great race. I finally got to show what I could do on a big stage. A triple podium to start the season was better than I expected the season would go and next year I hope to go one further. SRO Endurance is the next big league I can’t wait to get stuck into. It brings a lot of challenges I’m ready. My best moment of the season was my dive bomb on Amir Hoessini at Zandvoort. It was a tight squeeze but we both made it!”
NIKODEM WISNIEWSKI: “It is not the season I wanted but I started to pick-up my form towards the end of the series. Although Monza didn’t end like I wanted it to, I was really happy with the pace which is a good sign for next season. Especially with this being my first season on ACC, it felt more like I was learning the game so I will keep practicing till I am at the top. I am looking forward to the Le Mans Virtual Season as I feel very strong and confident.”
TINKO van der VELDE: “For my first season in SRO SPrint I am happy with the result. I would have been much further up in the Championship if the last 2 round had gone better. My favourite race of the season was also my best, a really intense drive around the Nurburgring! It was great defending Baldwin for really long stages and I had to defend him at every corner. I did better than I thought I would in the season, having a battle for fifth in the championship in the final round. Next up for me is to finish SRO Endurance as strong as possible. I’m already looking to next year for SRO Sprint and I want to be able to fight for next season’s championship.”
