The Teams from Brazil, Czechia and Japan booked their place at the front of tomorrow’s Esports GT Semi-Finals by emerging victorious from a trio of Quarter-Final contests this morning at the City of Arts & Sciences in Valencia.
With the top 10 from each race progressing straight to Saturday’s Semi-Finals, the pressure was on to not make mistakes early on. Two of the three pole-sitters followed that to the letter, with both Brazil and Czechia controlling their outings. However, misfortune denied Team Australia victory in the last outing, opening the door for Japan to hit the front.
Team Brazil got the day off to a flying start with Igor De Oliveira Rodrigues dominating the opening Quarter-Final to book the nation’s space on the front row of tomorrow’s Semi-Finals.
Rodrigues started on pole and pulled well clear to win comfortably ahead of Team Belgium’s Mathias Kühn and Team Venezuela’s Gabriel Parra. There were a few upsets, including a collision and a spin for defending gold medallist Team United Kingdom that left Kieran Prendergast down in 14th.
Vojtech Fiala and Niklas Houben were the class of the second Quarter-Final, with Team Czechia and Team Germany running away from the pack. Fiala controlled the race throughout, with Houben never more than 1.5s behind as both cruised into the Semis. Team Republic of South Korea was third thanks to Youngchan Kim.
The third Quarter-Final proved the most dramatic, when contact between long-time leader Team Australia and the chasing Team Morocco opened the door for a Team Japan victory.
Philippa Boquida led the majority of the race ahead of Ahmed Erquizi and Sota Muto but a tap from behind by the Morocco Mercedes-AMG sent the Australian one wide with 9 minutes to go, allowing Muto to slip past them both. Boquida recovered for second, with Erquizi completing the podium.
For those who did hit trouble, this afternoon’s Last Chance race gives one final opportunity to remain in the competition. They begin from 15:35.