Tonizza leads the championship. Disappointment for Pawlowski

David Tonizza has moved into the lead of the Mobileye GT World Challenge Sprint Series Pro Class, finishing as runner-up for the second time in as many races. The Scuderia Ferrari Velas Esports sim driver performed exceptionally well right from free practice, but traffic prevented him from securing what would have been a well deserved win. There was disappointment for Kamil Pawlowski, who was leading until he dropped back down to tenth in the hectic final stages. 

Qualifying. David’s day got off to a great start as he took pole position beating James Baldwin (Veloce) by 80 thousandths of a second and Tobias Gronewald (Mercedes-AMG E-Sports Team UOL) by 90. In the number 14 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020, Kamil was seventh quickest, just 158 thousandths slower than his team-mate.

Race. Tonizza led the field away, while Pawlowski collided with two Bentleys which cost him a place and incurred some slight damage. James Baldwin stayed right behind Tonizza but was never really able to attempt a pass. The key moment came with 20 minutes remaining when Baldwin came in for the obligatory pit stop, one lap earlier than David who, on that extra lap on track found backmarker Niklas HOuben (RBG eSports) in his path which cost him a few tenths, allowing Baldwin to undercut him for the lead. 

Kamil. Kamil recovered well and during the run of pit stops even took the lead for a few laps. But then a long pit stop dropped him down the order and while trying to come back from that, the Pole made a few mistakes and he could do no better than tenth at the flag. On the positive side this was his first points finish as a Scuderia Ferrari Velas Esports Team driver.

Standings. Those two second places mean Tonizza heads the classification on 60 points, one more than Daire McCormack, who won the first race at Misano and was third yesterday for Munster Rugby Gaming. The Italian is 11 ahead of Baldwin and 14 in front of Gronewald. Pawlowski is 14th on 7 points. The next round is on 8 June using the Nurburging track layout.