Max finishes in midfield during third round of Real Racers Never Quit
Published on 28 March 2020 by Kees-Jan Koster
Max Verstappen has not been able to continue his success of earlier this week in the third evening of “Real Racers Never Quit by Team Redline”. On the virtual Watkins Glen International circuit, with more than 40 participants, consisting of professional drivers, this time driving V8 Supercars.
Max drove as the rest of the field a Holden V8. He started both races from P7 and finished the first race in P5. During the second race Max was hit in the first lap, causing him only to finish in P10.
During qualifying the drivers get two “hot laps” to set a time. After two laps Max is in sixth position within 0.129 seconds from Kelvin van der Linde on pole. In the final phase of qualifying Max drops another place, causing him to start the race from P7. Lando Norris is two rows in front of him in P4.
The drivers have a rolling start from behind the safety car for the twelve laps lasting race. Max is able to overtake a couple of cars in the first lap and is behind Norris. In the following laps the McLaren driver is able to increase the distance to a second, resulting in Max not being able to try and overtake. Kelvin van der Linden at the front has a comfortable lead of almost four seconds.
Max is able to catch up a bit on Norris during the rest of the race but is not able to overtake. In the final phase of the race the Brit increases the lead again, causing Max to finish the race in fifth position. Van der Linde wins in front of Shane van Gisbergen and Daniel Juncadella in P3.
After the race Max says: “It was not a good race for me. I was slow in this car, I cannot make more of it. If I knew what it was, I would have changed it. I am still trying to find out why I am slow.”
Results round 3, race 1 - Real Racers Never Quit by Team Redline:
Max does not do well again in the qualifying for the second race. The Dutchman is again in P7 after the qualifying. Two places in front of him is Norris and Rudy van Buren is in P6. Frederik Rasmussen starts from pole.
Max is hit from behind by Van Gisbergen after the start of the second race and loses a lot of places. After all this he is in P10. What follows is a multiple laps long battle with Rene Rast in P9. Overtaking is again very difficult.
Out of view there is an incident involving Max and Rast. Max loses a place, while Rast falls back and must go to the pits not long after. At the front it is again Kelvin van der Linde who is leading the race. Max has his hands full to keep Daniel Juncadella behind. Meanwhile Norris is in P4.
In front it is exciting with the top five very close to each other. But in the final phase we do not see any overtaking. Kelvin van der Linde also wins the second race in front of Rasmussen and Agustin Canapino. Norris finishes again fourth and Max finishes in P10.
After the second race Max says: “Where do I start? It was just bad, slow and not my car. It was unfortunate I was taken out. I clipped the barrier, but could continue. I was in the middle of a group of cars, defending, crashing, wheel banging. I had a bit of damage.”
Looking back on the first week of Real Racers Never Quit by Team Redline, Max concludes: “Three races in a week is perfect. It is not too much, and there were a lot of good drivers in it. Hopefully we can continue what we are doing now and make it even better.”
Results round 3, race 2 - Real Racers Never Quit by Team Redline:
Next Monday 30th March at 21.00 the fourth event takes place of the in total six rounds of Real Racers Never Quit. You can watch it live at live.teamredline.com. Click here for more information about the series.
