ESports stars put best foot forward in Round 1

The New Zealand Esports Racing Series online season got under way last Friday with the opening round at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

Supported by TOYOTA GAZOO Racing New Zealand, the series winner will secure a factory supported test at Hampton Downs in a Toyota 86 Trophy car.

With a significantly bigger entry this year than last, fourteen drivers had qualified for the first division alone.

A wet qualifying session saw 2023 NZERS champion Matthew McEwen continue his top form with pole position. The Palmerston North competitor set a 1:47.049 and claimed top spot by over half a second. World tour driver of 2019 Mathew Smith of Christchurch joined McEwen on the front row ahead of Ben Macdonald – another Palmerston North racer. World Championship race winner and National hero Simon Bishop of Dunedin suffered technical issues during the session, forcing him to start the race from the back of the grid in 14th.

The race began in dry conditions prompting the competitors to switch to the slick tyres before the green flag. Polesitter McEwen got the start he needed to keep the lead with Smith mounting an attack into turn one. It was newcomer Caleb Birtles of Dunedin however, who was on a charge, moving from sixth on the grid to second place before the end of the first lap. Birtles kept the pressure on reigning champion McEwen all the way to the first pit stop, keeping the gap to the leader within 1.5 seconds for all of the first 13 laps.

All of the action was in the mid-pack for the first half of the race, with Bishop the main mover taking his GT86 from fourteenth into the top five by the time the drivers reached the pit window with the two leaders switching to hard compound and the rest of the field going medium,.

The gap between Birtles and McEwen remained steady as the rest of the field began to close the gap on their faster tyres. It seemed like McEwen was going to hold his three second buffer all the way to the flag, but the reigning champion made an unforced error on lap 21, putting his GT86 in the fence and handing Birtles a six second lead with five and a half laps to go. On lap 23 Bishop completed his overtaking masterclass with a fantastic move around the outside of Smith, impressively getting onto the podium.

At the flag it was Birtles who took the honours in the first round of the season, with reigning champion McEwen second and Bishop third, with Smith and Auckland’s teenage sensation Lewis Atkinson rounding out the top five.

The next round sees the competitors move to the UK and the legendary Brands Hatch GP circuit for round two this Friday.