Verstappen Sim Racing, Bleu Mercure Esport Fight to IMSA Esports Global Championship Class Victories at Watkins Glen

Every round of the IMSA Esports Global Championship has had a different feel to it, and the third race of the 2026 season in Upstate New York at Watkins Glen International was no different.

After two hours and 40 minutes of multi-class competition around the Boot configuration at Watkins Glen, the first repeat winning team of the season emerged in the GTD class as the No. 132 Bleu Mercure Porsche, this time with Vasilios Beletsiotis and Thibaud Prevot sharing time behind the wheel. Up in the GTP class, it looked as though the new winner would be the No. 8 Grid-and-Go.com eSports Valkyrie, but computer issues for Jake Denehan forced Sean Campbell back in the car after the disconnect, and it was the No. 33 Verstappen Sim Racing BMW of Enzo Bonito and Sam Kuitert picking up the lead and overall victory.

Pit cycles ultimately decided both classes, with the No. 33 outlasting the other Grid-and-Go Valkyrie, the No. 7, on the first two stops, earning a shorter pit time for the final run of the day. The No. 132 Bleu Mercure Porsche was tucked up behind the No. 196 BS+TURNER BMW the entire first stint, saving fuel, until they got knocked out of line by a passing GTP. When the No. 132 took control, they gave it right back to continue their save strategy, and it resulted in a successful swap after the cycle concluded, in which they had broken free of the draft and had a commanding lead. While the No. 171 BMW M Team MOUZ kept it close towards the end, the No. 132 was able to manage the traffic enough to stay ahead for the victory.

Bonito started the day in the No. 33 from the third position, behind the two Grid-and-Go machines on the front row, and kept the team in contention despite not being able to make the gains anticipated from the drop of the flag. “You have to try and take advantage of the strategy, and the traffic,” Bonito said. “In the end, I think it worked out pretty well for us.” When Kuitert took control, the No. 33 was actually in fourth, as the No. 31 Bleu Mercure Acura had jumped them in a similar strategy play as the Grid-and-Go cars. It wasn’t until the final pit cycle that the No. 33 team had realized their strategy to its full potential. “It’s unfortunate that the (No. 8) team had a disconnect,” Kuitert said. “For us, from there, it was just to not do anything stupid and bring the car home. We were really fast today, I think we saw that when we got some clean air. It’s tough to overtake here. As a team, we can be proud of what we did the last two weeks.”

For the GTD battle, it was Beletsiotis who started the race behind the wheel, and managed to do a lot of the heavy lifting to put the team in position to be in control. However, it was Prevot who had to manage the gap and the fuel cell to bring it home with the victory. “Vasilios did a great job putting the car in P1,” Prevot said. “We had a really good gap, I think five seconds after the pit stop on the last one, but we had to manage the fuel a lot, so we lost quite some time. In the end, we made it with almost no fuel to spare.”

“The main goal was to keep everything clean,” Beletsiotis said. “Having a calm approach, right from the start, was the key to success, I would say. We were happy to find ourselves in such a good position, with P3 in qualifying. Then we were able to quickly get another position up, and from then on, we were profiting. We had to manage the fuel and keep the car penalty-free and incident-free… Two wins in-a-row, I think, speaks for itself.”

BOTH WINNING TEAMS CAME FROM THIRD ON THE GRID THIS WEEK

At Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, the weather and differing strategies set the tone for the day. In Sebring, starting from the pole position led to wins for both pole sitting teams in their respective classes. This week, the pole position almost felt like a disadvantage with those behind them able to play fuel conservation games and ultimately leapfrog to the lead in later stints. It was the case for the No. 7 early, as they lost the lead to their teammates in the No. 8, but even on the last stop, the No. 33 was able to pull a jump out of their bag of tricks to take the lead and pull away to the victory.

In the GTD class, the sentiment was similar, as the No. 196 was in control, but the No. 132 was patient and bided their time until the stops. The No. 132 almost went too aggressive, allowing the No. 171 to close in during the final laps, but ultimately, the winning teams came from the second row in each starting order.

It likely would have been the No. 8 in GTP had computer issues not arisen with Jake Denehan’s sim in the closing stages. Sean Campbell jumped right back in as soon as he could, but the damage was done, and the team ended the day three laps down as a result.

COULD HAVE BEEN POTENTIAL POINTS TITLE ALTERING PENALTIES

A heroic drive for the No. 31 Bleu Mercure Acura ended with an unplanned trip down pit road just after the final planned stop of the day. One of the most important aspects of multi-class racing is giving room and taking spots safely, but on Lap 65 in the final corner, the No. 31, driven by Atte Kauppinen at the time, got a little too close to a slower GTD and pushed them into the wall on exit. Race Control made many of those calls throughout the race, and it was one that nearly cost the No. 31 their points lead.

Thankfully for the Alxander Spetz and Atte Kauppinen team, they recovered to finish fifth, scoring their third-straight top-five, while their closest competitors in the No. 8 wound up down the order for those computer issues.

A similar penalty happened earlier in the race to the No. 91 Porsche Coanda team, driven at the time by Joshua Rogers. The winners at Sebring were ultimately taken out of consideration for the win almost immediately into the race, incurring the penalty on the opening lap, needing to drive through the pits and then go through the slower GTD traffic a second time after just going through it prior to the penalty. Rogers gave the keys to Dayne Warren for the second half, and the duo recovered to finish in seventh.

WATKINS GLEN | ROUND 3 | GTP RESULTS

GTP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 3 AT WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL

WATKINS GLEN | ROUND 3 | GTD RESULTS

GTD STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 3 AT WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL

TWO RACES LEFT TO FIGHT FOR A TITLE

After three races, Bleu Mercure continues to set the pace in both classes, leading by over 100 points in both GTP and GTD championships. For the GTP ranks, their closest competition has been the Grid-and-Go teams, as they sit second and third, but the Verstappen Sim Racing and Porsche Coanda teams are closing back in, still in this fight with plenty of points still on the table.

Over in the GTD class, Grid-and-Go’s Risi Competizione Ferrari is still in second, but their winning pace found at Road Atlanta has dissipated, and they’ve been lucky to fight for top-10’s these last two events. Both BMW M Team MOUZ and BS+TURNER showed their strength at Watkins Glen, but will they be able to overcome the gap to the No. 132 team in these final two events?

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NEXT RACE

After Watkins Glen International, the series continues for the fourth race of the season at WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca, in two weeks on November 8th.

Each race of the IMSA Esports Global Championship will be broadcasted live on IMSA’s and iRacing’s social channels with the Countdown to Green pre-race show beginning at 1:45 p.m. ET (18:45 GMT). Race coverage begins at 2:00 p.m. ET.

For more information on the IMSA Esports Global Championship, visit iracing.com/imsa-esports , opens in a new tab.

For more information about the Virtual Competition Organisation (VCO), visit vco-esports.com , opens in a new tab.

For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit iracing.com , opens in a new tab.