Verstappen Sim Racing goes back-to-back as BMW M Team MOUZ holds on for win in IMSA Esports Global Championship Round 4 at Laguna Seca

After three rounds of Bleu Mercure Esport control in both the GTP and GTD classes of the 2026 IMSA Esports Global Championship, the points are tighter than ever following Round 4 of the championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

In the GTP ranks, the No. 33 Verstappen Sim Racing BMW of Enzo Bonito and Luke McKeown managed to get their second win in-a-row, closing in on the championship lead still held by the No. 31 Blue Mercure Esport Acura of Atte Kauppinen and Alxander Spetz, the winners of the opening round at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. It was a 1-2 finish for the Verstappen Sim Racing outfit, as the No. 1 team managed to recover from an early mishap with the No. 91 Porsche Coanda Team to cross the line right next to their teammates.

There's been a change in the lead for the GTD championship, as the No. 171 BMW M Team MOUZ entry put on a defensive masterclass for their first win of the 2026 season. Maximilian Benecke drove from second on the grid to the lead, then handed the reigns to Moritz Löhner, who held on for nearly a half-hour to close out the race against the No. 114 EMM Esports Chevrolet, the pole-sitting No. 111 Ronin-Sim-Sport.com Ferrari, and the No. 110 MAHLE Racing Team BMW, all racing under a blanket and with faster GTP traffic the entire way, including the GTP leaders on more than one occasion.

The No. 33 team started fifth, but when their teammates in the No. 1 wound up behind them in having to avoid the No. 91 in a battle for the lead, it put the most-recent winners in the best spot for a victory down in fourth. McKeown started the day in the seat, and through pit strategy, got the No. 33 to the front. However, when he handed the wheel over to Bonito, the No. 1 had managed to get back in front, plus the No. 32 Bleu Mercure Acura had jumped ahead with an overcut. "After I jumped into the car, I still had to make an overtake, which is always on the nerves here," Bonito explained post-race about his race against the No. 32. "It was more of a strategy race, but luckily, we have the best engineers on our side... I think this was the best race I've ever done, I'm not even joking. It was so well executed in every single way that I'm actually speechless."

As for the No. 171 down in the GTD ranks, the Team MOUZ teammates of Benecke and Löhner have raced at the top level for a long time, but Sunday marked their first wins in the series, both as competitors in general and together as teammates over the changes in the five seasons of competition. " For once, we started in a good position after always having weird qualifying," Benecke, the starting driver, said. "Moritz was defending for the whole stint, and we still came out on top, so props to him for the issues that he had."

Löhner took control on the final stint, with 54 laps to go, and for the majority of the time, he was hanging on to the lead for dear life while battling framerate issues. "I went into the car at the beginning, the first few laps, I only had 80 frames," Löhner explained. "When you usually practice and drive with 160 stable frames, with everything running smooth, it was like driving Mario Kart on a PlayStation. Something completely different. I didn't feel the car at all, I didn't know how much grip I had... defending for a half an hour straight was insane."

Just one race remains, and it will be the longest of the season, which means more chances for drama to appear. The IMSA Esports Global Championship concludes in two weeks with four hours of racing at Daytona International Speedway, home to the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the race that kicks off the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

EARLY DRAMA BETWEEN BITTER RIVALS IN GTP

There's a history that dates back many years between Verstappen Sim Racing, formerly Team Redline, and Coanda Esports. Recently in other top-level eSports competitions, the two came to blows more than once, with Verstappen Sim Racing coming out on top as Florian Lebigre was crowned the Porsche Esports Supercup World Champion.

The two teams adorned the front row of the fourth round of the IMSA Esports Global Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. It did not take long for the two teams to get after one another, and it wound up costing them both, one a bit more than the other. In the No. 1 was Lebigre, and after just a few laps, he brought the GTP field right up to the back of the GTD class. In second, the No. 91 was driven by Joshua Rogers, and he was looking to take advantage in the traffic.

On Lap 9, into the Andretti Hairpin, the two were rubbing fenders while maneuvering around the slower cars. Rogers, on the inside, was able to dive and get ahead, but only for a moment as he came up on a slower car quickly, his Porsche scraping the curbs in an awkward way, forcing a spin at the front of the field. Lebigre was right in the path of the spinning No. 91, and had to basically come to a complete stop to avoid damage. It cost them both multiple spots, but they would both continue.

This gave the lead to the No. 96 Tatum Res-Tech NordVPN Cadillac, driven by Raffaele De Santis and Nicolò Fioroni, with the No. 8 Grid-and-Go.com eSports Aston Martin and the No. 32 Bleu Mercure Esport Acura following through into the podium spots. The No. 33 was elevated to fourth, then shortly to third when the No. 8 had a crash on Lap 31. On the pit stop, the No. 33 took control with a strategy call, but their teammates in the No. 1 were still in the hunt, as was the No. 32 team.

The No. 91 continued to struggle from there. An unsafe pit entrance penalty on Lap 43 took them further out. Another penalty on Lap 81 for aggressive driving sealed their fate to finish in 11th after a promising start. As for their rivals, the two Verstappen team cars found themselves both in the fight for the win in the closing stages.

GTD RACE TAKES SPOTLIGHT IN LATE STAGES

The narrow racing lanes of WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca made the GTP versus GTD speed difference look like a choreographed dance for two hours and 40 minutes of racing. The GTP class needed to figure out when to attack, and the GTD class needed to figure out where they could run so as to not impede the faster speeds behind. A lot of times, the Zanardi Corkscrew was a magnificent mural of that struggle, and for the GTD leaders, was often a sight of anxiety over the closing 30 minutes.

To start the day, the No. 111 Ronin-Sim-Sport.com Ferrari led the field to the green, but it was the No. 171 right behind in second, looking to close in on the championship lead to the best of their ability. To their benefit, the championship leading No. 132 Bleu Mercure Esport Porsche was mired down in 24th following qualifying, which would be a steep hill to climb for both Thibaud Prevot and Thibault Cazaubon, the winning team in the last two races.

The No. 111 led the opening 28 laps, but Benecke took control with his No. 171 on Lap 29 and began an incredible run over the next hour, nearly a quarter of a track ahead of his classmates by the time he gave up control to Löhner. However, Löhner was having framerate issues, and the battle closed in with 30 minutes to go, with the No. 114 EMM Esports Chevrolet of Dáire McCormack and Jerome Fischer, with Fischer closing in quick.

The incredible defense by Löhner and the more than exemplary patience portrayed by Fischer allowed for the No. 111 of Henry Joslyn and Lewis Barlow to catch up. A few laps later, the No. 110 of Rainer Talvar and Elias Raikaa were in the picture for the win as well. Löhner, Fischer, Joslyn, and Talvar were nose-to-tail, all figuring out where to make moves as they watched their mirrors as often as they watched their windshield.

On two occasions, the GTP field safely worked their way through the GTD dogfight without causing too much of a disturbance. Fischer did everything he could, but Löhner played a masterful defense to claim the class victory.

VERSTAPPEN SIM RACING TEAMMATES FINISH 1-2 IN GTP

Up front in the GTP ranks, a penalty to the No. 31 took them out of the conversation for the victory, but their teammates in the No. 32 were still fighting for the win. On the final stop, the No. 1 wound up out front, but just behind that, the No. 33 was fighting for second against the No. 32. The No. 32 began to fall back, ultimately losing their rear wing and struggling home to finish in sixth. Their teammates in the No. 31 kept their championship lead by recovering to finish in fifth.

The former leaders of the race in the No. 96 held on to the final step of the podium against the No. 92 Vesta Sport Porsche of Przemyslaw Lemanek and Niklas Beu, the biggest movers of the race from 15th on the grid. Ahead of all of that, the No. 1 led, but traffic forced the No. 33 back into the conversation, eventually taking back control. The No. 1 didn't fight back, and the two teammates posed for a victory photo while taking the checkered flag.

LAGUNA SECA | ROUND 4 | GTP RESULTS

GTP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 4 AT WEATHERTECH RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA

LAGUNA SECA | ROUND 4 | GTD RESULTS

GTD STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 4 AT WEATHERTECH RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA

IT ALL COMES DOWN TO FOUR HOURS IN DAYTONA BEACH

The championship will be decided in Daytona Beach in two weeks. Bleu Mercure can still sweep the classes, but they come into the GTD championship 24 points behind Team MOUZ after only getting up to finishing in 15th at Laguna Seca. In the GTP ranks, however, the No. 31 still leads by 58 over Verstappen Sim Racing's No. 33. Anything can happen, and has happened before, especially at the World Center of Racing.

Tune into the finale on Sunday, November 22nd. 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.