Joni Tormala had to settle for P4 and P17 in the fourth round of the rFactor2 GT Pro Series in Imola last night and the Finnish driver was visibly disappointed as his chances of taking the title in his debut season moved a step away from him.
Joni started the evening in a near perfect position, qualifying in third, just 0.078s off pole position. And as the sprint race got underway, with the rolling start, Joni was bumped down to fourth almost straight away and was unable to regain that position. But a solid performance saw him finish in fourth, meaning he would start the endurance race in seventh.
Joni got off to a strong start and was holding seventh before Williams Esports driver Nikodem Wisniewski sent the Finnish driver into the gravel trap, putting him down in P15. Wisniewski was later disqualified meanwhile Joni ended the race in P17.
Before the evening Joni was just five points off the lead of the championship, but with this disappointing result, and Kevin Siggy, the leader, claiming second in the sprint and P5 in the endurance race, the Finn will have it all to do in the two remining rounds.
After the race, Joni commented: “It was unlucky, I see this as a dropped round. It’s going to be really hard from now on. The pace looked really good once again tonight and it showed in Qualifying where I picked up P3. This is really positive for me to see that I’m starting to qualify better. Tonight looks bad for the championship but being in third still is a positive and I’ll push hard towards the end of the season.”
The next round takes place on Monday 27 April at Sebring, Florida.
rFactor2 GT Pro Round 4 Imola Sprint Race result
  1. Nikodem Wisniewski – Williams Esports
  2. Kevin Siggy – McLaren Shadow
  3. Erhan Jajovski – Triple A Esports
  4. Joni Tormala – Red Bull Racing Esports
  5. Arne Schoonvliet – Ajira Racing
  6. Jernej Simoncic – Burst Esports
  7. Dennis Lind – Singularity Racing
  8. Peyo Peev – HM Engineering
  9. Rudy van Buren – Team Redline
  10. Kevin van Dooren – Team Redline
rFactor2 GT Pro Round 4 Imola Endurance Race result
  1. Rudy van Buren – Team Redline
  2. Dennis Lind – Singularity Racing
  3. Arne Schoonvliet – Ajira Racing
  4. Erhan Jajovski – Triple A Esports
  5. Kevin Siggy – McLaren Shadow
  6. Petar Brljak – Edge Esports
  7. Jernej Simoncic – Burst Esports
  8. Kuba  Brzezinski – Williams Esports
  9. Nuno Pinto – Triple A Esports
  10. Jimi Nisula – Satellite Racing
17. Joni Tormala – Red Bull Racing Esports
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