Nobody can say that Charles Leclerc, Valentino Rossi, Alex Albon, Mattia Pasini & Co. offered a bad show: the virtual sports car race in Misano went haywire. As a reminder: GP pilots, motorcycle racers, a number of football players and sim specialists competed against each other on the evening of May 6, as part of the “All Stars Racing Night”. The race was broadcast directly on the Italian Sky, in addition on numerous Twitch channels of the participants, such as with Charles Leclerc and Francesco «Pecco» Bagnaia.
Formula 1 star Charles Leclerc took the lead in the first of two races from the front row. Ferrari eSports specialist Amos Laurito had been on pole but started poorly and fell behind. Leclerc was followed by Red Bull Racing driver Alex Albon and Italian racing driver Federico Leo.
While Leclerc led easily, Laurito made up rank by rank, but flew spectacularly in the duel with the Thai-British Albon. Fortunately, only pride was hurt.
Leclerc, Formula One World Championship fourth in 2019, drove home the victory in the first race, ahead of Albon and Leo and Williams driver George Russell. This was followed by Luca Albon, the younger brother of Red Bull Racing driver Alex. Shortly before the end, Luca finally managed to overtake Valentino Rossi after a long duel. The nine-time motorcycle world champion only started from 19th place, but fought his way up to 6th place, respect.
After the race there was a lot to talk about among the networked pilots, some drivers began to argue online because they disagreed with their opponents’ piste etiquette, because a first attempt to start had to be stopped – too many accidents in the middle, too many connection errors.
The second race also suffered from connection problems (Leclerc and Alex Albon). Rossi disappeared completely from the scene and, when asked by Sky commentator Guido Meda, said: «I thought we would only do one race. When the second race started, my mom came and said that dinner was on the table. So I got out. »
On the track, Mattia Pasini, Moto2 World Championship sixth from 2017, got out of the way shortly after the start of Laurito and was the first to cross the virtual finish line, but then received a penalty and fell behind Federico Leo, who was ahead of Antonio Fuoco (Ferrari Driver Academy) and Sim Racer Jimmy Broadbent won. Pasini was terribly upset on the Italian sky and spoke of a server error in the race organization and a drive-through penalty that he should never have received.
Charles Leclerc, kicked out of the race due to connection problems, spoke up and criticized that the GT race should have been organized better and that too many drivers had started. McLaren driver Lando Norris also had problems with the connection, he disappeared from the scene after only a few laps. Charles: “Run 2 was a good exercise for my patience.”
Sometimes it was chaotic. For example, when the astonished spectators in the background watched how Rossi, with the help of his girlfriend Francesca Sofia Novello, feverishly tries to reconnect. There was a lively discussion about whether race 2 should not have been stopped and restarted until all drivers were connected.
Charles Leclerc finally apologized to the fans on his Twitch channel: “I’m sorry that everything went a little wrong.”
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