The Aston Martin Cognizant Esports Team era has begun. A clean sweep for the team in the opening round of the second season of V10-R League brought a clean sweep of four race victories over Romain Grosjean’s R8G Esports Team.
A revised format from the inaugural V10-R League season, in which Team Silverstone competed last year, meant all-new challenges faced the team in both Relay and Team races across Spa-Francorchamps and Monza on the Assetto Corsa platform.
For the Relay races, each of the three drivers must complete a single lap before pitting and allowing another team-mate to head out on track. One driver is also selected to complete a second ‘joker’ lap, which can be completed at any point in the four-lap race.
The Team races take a more conventional format as each team pits its three drivers head-to-head on the same track, with points allocated for finishing positions. The team with the best individual results takes the point and race victory.
Aston Martin Cognizant Esports Team selected Spa for the first half of the match and began with the Relay race.
Daniele Haddad started the race and immediately challenged R8G’s Erhan Jajovski at the first corner before pulling alongside through the run up Eau Rouge and Raidillon. He then edged ahead on the Kemmel Straight before the door was closed on the thrilling tussle.
A final attempt at the Bus Stop chicane almost allowed Daniele through, but he pitted to hand over to Lucas Blakeley as Jajovski took his joker lap.
Lucas would put in a superb first lap of his stint to close the gap before continuing onto his joker lap, bringing the team firmly into contention.
A rapid final pitstop to hand over to team-mate Shanaka Clay meant Aston Martin Cognizant Esports Team emerged with a strong lead, which Shanaka extended to over six seconds before crossing the finish line for the first match point.
The team continued where it left off in the Team race, despite an R8G rival pushing Shanaka into a spin, which forced Daniele wide and caused him to lose significant time.
Bolstered by polesitter Lucas’s superb start, the team held the advantage as his team-mates used the opening laps to recover.
Thomas Petitjean ran in fourth ahead of both Shanaka and Lucas across the first four of five laps, despite Shanaka’s relentless pressure. After Shanaka was forced wide at the Bus Stop chicane early on, Petitjean would spin at the same corner on the penultimate lap, as the pressure told and helped both Shanaka and Daniele through.
With Lucas’s victory, and fourth and fifth place finishes for Shanaka and Daniele, the team swept both races at Spa to take a 2-0 lead into the last two races, held at Monza.
Lucas would begin the Relay race and made an excellent start to take a commanding two-second lead at the end of his first lap against Jajovski, with the pair then going on to their joker laps.
Daniele took over to face off against R8G’s Samuel Libeert. A tidy and smooth lap then followed to help increase the buffer to over three seconds before Shanaka rounded off the victory.
Discover V10-R League
Learn all about the V10-R League's car, teams and format and discover where you can watch the series.
With a 3-0 lead gained, victory was guaranteed for Aston Martin Cognizant Esports Team, but there was no letting up in the finale.
A scrappy Team race proved challenging as polesitter Lucas was forced wide at the first chicane, but he recovered to once again charge into the distance. It proved a crucial start as Daniele and Shanaka both hit setbacks.
Shanaka was pushed off the track and into the barriers on the exit of the first chicane after contact caused by Libeert, a cruel twist after Shanaka’s stunning move for third around the outside of the Parabolica moments earlier.
Daniele then ended up in a race-long bruising battle with Petitjean at the rear, but the combined results still gave Aston Martin Cognizant Esports victory, completing a 4-0 sweep in the process.
With the V10-R League’s new playoff-style format, the opener was the perfect start to the campaign in a bid to come out on top in 2021.
In the new format, the 10 teams are now split into two leagues of five teams. The top three from each league after five rounds go into the playoffs – with the top team from either group earning a bye to go straight into a semi-final for a chance to make the final.
Follow the campaign on the official Aston Martin Cognizant Esports Team channels on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
All in. All welcome. All celebrated. Sign up to open up a world of I / AM benefits and once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
