LFS endurance racing in the spirit of the popular VLN

The Open Endurance Cup is a series of races providing multi-class endurance racing in an open format. The idea is to allow every starter the chance to race for the title. "The team leaving the greatest number of competitors behind in its class will be allocated the greatest number of points." (Quoted from the VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring Website)

Wed, 26 Aug 2020 19:35, by TFalke55

With the third class win in OEC5's third round, LFS.HU already crowned themselves the LRF cup winner in Kyoto. Meanwhile in the NGTR class the top teams switched from the UFR to the XFR, but the race would be for Isaac Price (IsaacPrice) to win his Open Endurance Cup debut sharing a the car with returning Joni Katila (jsrk).

After the 20 minute qualifying session, the Williams Esports driver put the #63 XFR already on the pole position, seven hundreth of a second infront of Cruise God's Infern0 (tr0l) and championship leader R.Takahashi (Excellent15) for Akagi Red Suns. The XFRs were closely followed by Energy Virtual Racing's Kaique Piropo (KaiqueBRA) in the best UFR.
At the start the #75 lost a couple of positions while the defending OEC champion Akagi Red Suns took an early lead, switching positions back and fourth with the pole sitter. Infern0 (tr0l) was therefore able to catch up to the leaders again resulting in a close race at the top for the first stint of the race.
As it was the case in previous rounds Gugelhupf Racing Team lost time and track position at the start. The Austrian team had qualified in fifth but crossed the line down in tenth position after lap one. climbs and Cossi (Schrauberherz) charged back through the field and could finish the race in fourth position, helped also by the retirement of Energy Vitual Racing who otherwise would probably have had the pace to fight for a podium spot.
A puncture on lap 32 ended the hopes for the second win of the season for Infern0 (tr0l). But 37 laps later the championship leading R.Takahashi (Excellent15) enters the pit lane for the final pit stop too fast, resulting in a drive-through penalty, handing the win to Joni Katila (jsrk). The World Class Lions driver finished the race in the #63 XFR. A post race penalty for the Akagi Red Suns also drops the team further down to the bronze rank.
Eventually Jaroslav Dohnalík (Fast Jarda) timed out due to a thunderstorm in his area 26 laps before the end and was not able to continue the race. This meant, only twelve XFR would finish the race on the server in the NGTR class, all UFRs retired from the race.

In the LRF class Team Rock Racing's n0body (Pathseeker) secured the first FZ5 pole position in the season ahead of the three LX6 of eventual LRF cup winner LFS.HU, Regen Motorsports and Born To Race. The opening laps provided a mixed picture: uNite (nikopdr) was able to gain a couple of positions starting from last. He used the draft and the higher top speed of the Raceabout into the first breaking zone entering Turn 2 but would retire with a wheel failure in the middle of the seconds stint. TRR Park The Bus Racing Team defended the lead on the Oval section of Kyoto Ring National reversed but succumbed in the infield on the fifth lap to the LX6, suffering from the condition of their tyres. Lacko86 would keep the lead from this point onwards except for changes due to pit strategy, winning the race and the LRF cup for LFS.HU.
Patrik Hlinka (Spiiiky) who replaced Daniel Lukastik (D4NO) for Regen Motorsports in Kyoto could not keep up with the speeds of War Faction and Born To Race. This left the Raceabout and the LX6 in the position to fight for the remaining spots on the podium. In a thrilling battle DataFi and Ayoub2016 used the advantages of their cars in the closing stages of the race with the better end for the #25.

The Akagi Red Suns keep the championship lead, but Cruise God closes the gap. In the final race in Blackwood, whoever finishes in front of the other team wins the overall championship unless LFS.HU use their outsider's chance.


The complete results and standings can be found in the Open Endurace Cup subsection.



The season finale will take place at Blackwood Historic reversed on 30 Aug 2020 starting at 16:30 UTC. The race will again be broadcasted by our media partner SimBroadcasts.tv. Sign-ups to Open Endurance Cup Five stay open, so you can still join the grid.