Drama In Sebring Marks Unlucky Day For Bulls

Le Mans Virtual Series goes stateside for Round 4.

dramatic

start

and

end

the

500

Miles

Sebring

summed

unfortunate

afternoon

for

the

team

despite

near-flawless

strategy

the

fourth

race

the

2021

Mans

Virtual

Series.

LMP

Car Number: 11

Car: Oreca 07 LMPS

Drivers: Cooper Webster, Alex Siebel & Dennis Jordan

Qualified: 14

Finished: 16

Giving It Their All In The Fourth Race Of The 2021 Le Mans Virtual Series

After a tough qualifying session, the Team started P14 on the grid for Round 4 of the Le Mans Virtual Series at Sebring. Dennis Jordan began the session and got away well, until turn seven on the first lap when car number five of the Williams Esports team brushed another car, locked up and was sent sliding. This was sent into the path of Jordan and there was nowhere he could go but straight into the side of the Oreca 07, which sent the car spinning and down the order to last position.

Despite the early setback, the LMP car pushed up to P16 and stayed out on an aggressive strategy, taking P3 when all the other cars around them had come into the pits. At the end of lap 23, the Bulls finally came in for a stop, coming out in P17 and just a couple of seconds behind the Race Clutch Alpine car.

On lap 37, there was a brilliant move up the inside on Alessandro Ottoviani in the Panis Racing car which saw the Bulls move up into P13. Cooper Webster took on the second stint in his Red Bull Racing Esports and rFactor 2 debut, but was a victim of one of Sebring’s bumps which caused the Team to have a lengthy pit stop, cancelling out a lot of the time that had been made up, which saw the Oreca drop two laps down.

Despite making up good ground on the cars around them, the early setback proved to be decisive in the outcome of the race along with the pit stop repair, as Alex Siebel crossed the line in P16. An unfortunate result, but considering the bad luck throughout, a valiant effort from all three Bulls.

On the Charge At Sebring

After the race, Dennis Jordan said: “We qualified a bit out of place and found ourselves in lap one chaos, which we did not want to be in and that meant we got spun around and fell to the back of the field.

“We managed to charge through the field relatively quickly, however Cooper fell victim to one of Sebring's notorious bumps, forcing us to take a lengthy pit stop repair. But there is no blame on him, it was his first ever race on rFactor 2 and he did a fabulous job until then - these things happen.

“We have 5 weeks to get ready for Le Mans, so time is limited. We will be able to take a few days off for Christmas, but it is going to be a big grind. In the LMP2, we haven't really got anything out of this season yet, so this race means a lot to us to now get at least one big result. So, the full team is fully focussed to do their job for one last time in what has been a very disappointing season so far.”

Alex Siebel spoke after the 500 Miles of Sebring: “Our bad luck continues. Sadly, we couldn't avoid an incident ahead and dropped to last place in the opening lap. From there on we did a decent recovery but a driving error halfway through the race and a repair stop dropped us two laps down.

“It is quite frustrating how the season is going, but we will fight one more time at Le Mans to finish the season on a high.”

GTE

Car Number: 111

Car: Corvette C8.R

Drivers: Yuri Kasdorp, Nestor Garcia and Denis Lind

Qualified: 11

Finished: 7

After qualifying in P11, the Esports Bulls knew they had ground to make up in the race. Yuri Kasdorp impressed very early on with some great moves that saw the Corvette move up to P8 after a good battle with the BMW Team. On lap 23, Kasdorp was flying and up to P7. An aggressive strategy kept him out until lap 34, three laps more than the teams ahead of him.

Nestor Garcia came into the car next, and was immediately looking strong in P7, battling with the car ahead. On lap 98, and with other cars having pitted on different strategies, Garcia found himself in P2 and on the charge. A driver change on lap 101 saw Dennis Lind take the wheel of the Corvette, coming out in P7. An incredible stint saw Lind making moves and passing cars in the pits. By lap 126 the Bulls were in P3 and looked set for a second podium in-a-row.

The car crossed the line but then the bad news came, Nestor Garcia had spent too long in the hot seat. A minimum of 40 minutes and a maximum of 80 minutes is allowed per driver, and Garcia went over the limit by just 1 minute and 40 seconds. A crushing blow for the team, especially how well all three Bulls had driven. Despite the setback, the Team moved up from 8th to 6th in the GTE Teams’ Championship.

The Bulls Looked Set For Their Second Podium In-A-Row

Nestor Garcia spoke after the race, saying: “We are quite surprised because we thought we had the podium after a great race. I'm still not sure what happened, but the race went according to plan.

“The car lacks pure speed, so our only possibility was a completely different strategy and I think everything has worked perfectly. Unfortunately, we received a penalty and ended in seventh, which is a shame.”

Yuri Karsdorp added: “Our GTE car finally managed a clean race. We started P11 and managed to stay close to the leaders in the first stint in P7 going longer on fuel. Nestor did a great job in his stints, as did Dennis who did a mega job in the last stint to cross the line in P3 but the penalty for driving time dropped us back to P7.

“Overall it was very frustrating for us to lose a well-deserved podium like that, but we can be proud of a good race we showed starting far back in the field with a car that lacks one lap pace.”

An Incredible Effort From The Bulls At Sebring