Dutch sim racer Jarno Opmeer won a tricky race at Silverstone with a “controversial” finish that saw him pass through the pitlane on the final lap  

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Although the F1 Esports Championship is currently on pause, sim racers like Jarno Opmeer are staying active with races across other series. This week, the three-time F1 Esports World Champion took part in a Premier Sim GL race and won with a move reminiscent of Michael Schumacher.

On Wednesday (6 August), racers including Opmeer, Frederik Rasmussen and Thomas Ronhaar, took to Silverstone for a wet race that mirrored the conditions seen during the real-life grand prix. The 26-lap race delivered a thrilling finale, with the top four tightly packed heading into the final corners.

Opmeer, running in third at the time, needed a miracle – or so it seemed. Taking matters into his own hands, he sent his virtual RB21 into the pitlane, which runs along the inside of Turns 17 and 18, effectively shortening the lap but also falling mercy to the pitlane speed limiter.

The gamble paid off and he crossed the finish line just eight-thousandths of a second ahead of second place.

The move immediately drew comparisons to Schumacher’s infamous 1998 win at Silverstone, where he entered the pit lane on the final lap to take victory under controversial circumstances.

In the F1 game, such a move doesn’t result in a penalty, and so Opmeer – racing for Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing – was officially declared the winner.

However, PSGL has since hinted on social media that the result may still be under review, calling it a “controversial” finish. As per the regulations: “The stewards may penalise drivers for incidents not reported to the stewards or not covered by this ruleset nor by the racing code.”

So, will the final race result stand?

Playing with the rules

“I didn’t actually know if it would work,” Opmeer admitted while speaking with Motorsport.com.

“I knew it was faster, but I was still a second behind the leader. So, I knew it would be very close if it did work. I had to push hard entering the pitlane. Maybe it feels even better [to win this way]. When you pull off a stunt like that, you never know if it’s going to work.

“It was the perfect moment, too. The leader had done a lot of laps on his intermediates, so he’d be really slow in the final corners. That made the gain even bigger, because you’re losing relatively less time. Honestly, it feels better because the gap was so tiny.”

Heading into the final lap, Opmeer was well aware that his chances were slim.

“I knew I wasn’t going to win in a straight fight. At Stowe, you’re in dirty air, and it’s hard to get close. But during the race I noticed something: every time a fast driver pitted, they’d set the fastest lap – by two or three tenths.

“I knew that if I entered the pit lane on the limit, I was risking a 10-second penalty, and that would drop me way back. But I also knew that was the only way left to gain positions.”

The idea was one thing, but the execution, another.

“I knew that if I wanted to go for it, I needed a good exit from Stowe,” Opmeer explained. “And then I thought: ‘Okay, I’m going for it.’”

He waited until the last possible moment to move right, to avoid tipping off the two cars ahead.

“I didn’t know if they were thinking the same. In real Formula 1, this wouldn’t be allowed. But in this league, there’s nothing in the rulebook about it, so I knew it was possible.”

That last point is now the subject of debate, especially after PSGL’s social media post. Opmeer, however, says his team doesn’t expect a penalty.

“It’s not in the rules,” he stressed. “I race in another league, WR, and there it is in the regulations. We’ll have to wait and see, but we don’t expect any punishment, simply because it’s not covered in the rulebook.”

Opmeer added that tricks like these are part of what makes F1 – even virtually – so compelling.