Bleu Mercure Esport, Rizi Competizione by GnG Claim IMSA Esports Global Championship Class Wins in Kinetic 240 at Road Atlanta
By Justin Melillo
The 2026 IMSA Esports Global Championship is officially underway, and two new winning teams stood atop the classes after two hours and 40 minutes around Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, the Kinetic 240, on Sunday afternoon.
In the GTP class and overall, the No. 31 Bleu Mercure Esport Acura driven by Atte Kauppinen and Alx Spetz held off a late charge from the No. 8 Grid-and-Go.com eSports Valkyrie driven by Jake Denehan and Sean Campbell. It was still a celebration for the GnG group as a whole, however, as the No. 107 Risi Competizione by GnG Ferrari piloted by Nicolas Mateo and Daniel Pásztor held on for the GTD class victory over the No. 161 VØRAX Mercedes-AMG wheeled by Beckham Jacir and Manuel Troncoso.
Neither winners dominated the day, nor started from their top spots in class, but they each survived the early and wet chaos and found themselves on the correct strategy to capitalize into virtual victory lane.
For the winning GTP, Spetz started the day behind the wheel, setting the car up to be in winning position. “Track position was super, super important in the start, so I’m super happy we P2 in quali.” He handed the keys over to Kauppinen during the second of what would be three total pit stops. “The last few laps was complete chaos,” Kauppinen said post-race. “I just tried to survive. When they got within 2.5 (seconds), I knew, one time, if I get stuck downhill, it’s going to be close with them. In the end, it was really nervous.” As also noted by Spetz, the team swept the weekend at Road Atlanta, winning the iRacing Petit Le Mans the day prior, a 10-hour event in the same machines at the same track.
As for the GTD winners, they went off strategy and opted for some white knuckle racing early in the going. With the track still wet from qualifying, the No. 107 was one of just a couple of teams to opt for dry tires instead of wet weather tires. The track would be actively drying out as the race progressed, with no further precipitation to come, but those first few laps were an absolute handful for anyone trying the alternate strategy.
“It was quite hard to manage the situation,” Mateo said post-race. “We were starting ahead on the grid, so everyone was coming from behind with the wet tire, with much more pace… They had to avoid me because I was 15 seconds slower. After a few laps, I thought the race was over, we were 50 second behind the leader… Suddenly, we started to gain time, and the strategy was perfect.” Mateo handed the car over to Pásztor from the second spot on the strategy, and from there, he was able to overcut the No. 161 on the same strategy to take the lead and ultimately the win. “It just feels surreal to me,” Pásztor said post-race. “I didn’t believe that we would have any chance after seeing what we were doing on the dry tires in the first stint.”
WET AND WILD AT THE START
The heavens began to open up around the end of final practice, and during qualifying, it was a fully-wet racing surface. In the GTP class, it was the No. 92 Vesta Sport Porsche with Niklau Beu on the pole, while the No. 114 EMM Esports Corvette with Jerome Fischer driving claimed the top spot in GTD. By the time it was time to grid for the main event, the rain was over, and the track was in the process of drying.
It was still wet, and the tire decisions were mostly towards putting on a wet set in both classes. It would pay off to be the better strategy in GTP by the end of the race, but it would be a starting dry tire winning in GTD by the end of the day.
Early on, the GTP battle saw the No. 92 challenged by the No. 91 Porsche Coanda entry, at that time with Dayne Warren behind the wheel. It took just 10 laps, however, before that GTP class started pitting to take off wet tires. It was within the window of the normal three-stop strategy, but surely, those on the dry tires at the start were hoping to stretch it for just two stops. The track just wasn’t wet enough for that to ultimately pan out.
When the tire swaps began, so did a lot of the carnage. Cars would reenter a wet track with cold, dry tires, and many hopefuls found themselves in trouble as a result. The No. 91 was among them, as Warren would crash and tow at Lap 16. On the same lap, the defending champions in the No. 1 BMW M Verstappen Sim Racing team, driven by Enzo Bonito, would also get caught up in some chaos.
Even nearly 10 laps later, the track was still wet enough at parts that the No. 89 BMW M Team BS+COMPETITION entry, at the time driven by Jaden Munoz, managed to clip a wet spot and spin out to their demise on Lap 25.
OFFSETTING STRATEGIES
The change over of the track going from wet to dry benefitted the No. 33 Verstappen Sim Racing BMW driven by Sam Kuitert at first. With most of their competition pitting for dry tires, this handed the lead over at Lap 15, and their tires were more than warm enough to handle to track at that state. With the No. 91 out of the picture, the No. 92 wound up at the forefront of the wet-to-dry strategy in the GTP class, followed by the No. 31.
As for the GTD class, they also had some strategies afoot. Teams like the No. 114 and the No. 124 TC Esports Corvette were able to pit for dry tires around their 10th lap as well. The No. 161, with Jacir behind the wheel, started back in 17th, well behind the No. 107 on the same strategy. However, some off-track excursions brought the two close, and ultimately landed the No. 161 in better favor by the time the others began to switch compounds.
With the ebb and flow of multi-class racing, the two were able to stay out of trouble mostly, but a choice by the No. 107 to stay out a couple of extra laps on the final pit stop proved to be the difference in their battle for the win.
LATE RACE BATTLES
While the No. 33 furiously tried to make up the difference they lost early on by existing on dry tires on a wet track, they wound up third by the end of the day thanks to some fresher tires and better traffic management late from Luke McKeown. The No. 92 seemed to pivot to the No. 33’s strategy on the second round of pit stops, but it wound up costing them a third pit stop, and eventually, some unfavorable traffic conditions for Przemyslaw Lemanek that would result in a late race crash, forcing them to finish 16th.
In the GTD, it was a similar scenario, just a bit flipped. The No. 114 did have to make one extra stop as compared to the No. 107 and the No. 161, but even always on the optimal tires, Dáire McCormack could only salvage a third place podium run for the No. 114 EMM Esports entry.
Traffic would become a factor for both classes as the time clicked down to zero. The No. 31 had a lead of over six seconds, but as Kauppinen took the white flag, that gap was nearly down to one second. Denehan in the No. 8 was able to get the breaks through traffic, and had there been another lap, perhaps he could have gotten there.
As Kauppinen worked the traffic, he had to be aware of the other class’s battle as well, as did they of the GTP battle. Pásztor and Troncoso had enough of a gap that the GTP competition would equally get through them, and that gap stayed about the same to the checkers, at about two seconds in favor of the No. 107.
KINETIC 240 AT MICHELIN RACEWAY ROAD ATLANTA | ROUND 1 | GTP RESULTS
| POS. | ST. | NO. | TEAM | MANUFACTURER | DRIVER 1 | DRIVER 2 | INTERVAL | PTS. |
| 1 | 2 | 31 | Bleu Mercure Esport | Acura | Atte Kauppinen | Alxander Spetz | 134 laps | 382 |
| 2 | 6 | 8 | Grid-and-Go.com eSports | Aston Martin | Jake Denehan | Sean Campbell | -1.124 | 345 |
| 3 | 8 | 33 | Verstappen Sim Racing | BMW | Luke McKeown | Sam Kuitert | -7.523 | 323 |
| 4 | 9 | 32 | Bleu Mercure Esport | Acura | David Adam | Augustin Bernier | -29.259 | 302 |
| 5 | 20 | 62 | SOELPEC Precision Racing | Aston Martin | Markus Søholm | Robin Schwanke | -49.467 | 271 |
| 6 | 15 | 7 | Grid-and-Go.com eSports | Aston Martin | Jere Lehtinen | Darius Andrei | -54.029 | 266 |
| 7 | 12 | 4 | Mivano | Acura | Andrea Barilaro | Tanguy Billon | -1:08.107 | 259 |
| 8 | 10 | 81 | Coanda Esports | Porsche | Dan Amor | Victor Wolfsohn | -1 L | 251 |
| 9 | 7 | 98 | P1Sim Pro Team | Cadillac | Lucas Bayle | Josh Lad | -1 L | 244 |
| 10 | 19 | 3 | Mivano | Acura | Marcus Hamilton | Loïc Rabier | -1 L | 222 |
| 11 | 13 | 69 | Tatum Res-Tech MOZA Racing | Cadillac | Mattia Isetta | Matteo Aurucci | -1 L | 218 |
| 12 | 17 | 96 | Tatum Res-Tech NordVPN | Cadillac | Roland Pali | Nicolò Fioroni | -1 L | 204 |
| 13 | 18 | 78 | Maniti Racing | BMW | Balazs Turoczy | Philip Schiff | -2 L | 193 |
| 14 | 16 | 17 | Maniti Racing | Aston Martin | Tristan Cabrera | Chris van de Nesse | -6 L | 185 |
| 15 | 4 | 88 | Deletraz Automotive by PCdesign | Porsche | Michal Zajac | Aiden Mataisz | -6 L | 188 |
| 16 | 1 | 92 | Vesta Sport | Porsche | Niklas Beu | Przemyslaw Lemanek | -8 L | 185 |
| 17 | 5 | 89 | BMW M Team BS COMPETITION | BMW | Jaden Munoz | Bradley Leenards | -14 L | 166 |
| 18 | 3 | 91 | Porsche Coanda Esports | Porsche | Alejandro Sánchez | Dayne Warren | -19 L | 160 |
| 19 | 11 | 1 | BMW M Verstappen Sim Racing | BMW | Enzo Bonito | Diogo Pinto | -118 L | 140 |
| 20 | 14 | 43 | XBD RACING SIMLAB | Cadillac | Unai Ortiz | Carlos Boza Puya | -120 L | 127 |
GTP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 1 AT MICHELIN RACEWAY ROAD ATLANTA
| POS. | NO. | TEAM | MANUFACTURER | PTS. | WINS | POLES | T-5’s | T-10’s |
| 1 | 31 | Bleu Mercure Esport | Acura | 382 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 8 | Grid-and-Go.com eSports | Aston Martin | -37 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | 33 | Verstappen Sim Racing | BMW | -59 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | 32 | Bleu Mercure Esport | Acura | -80 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | 62 | SOELPEC Precision Racing | Aston Martin | -111 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | 7 | Grid-and-Go.com eSports | Aston Martin | -116 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | 4 | Mivano | Acura | -123 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | 81 | Coanda Esports | Porsche | -131 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | 98 | P1Sim Pro Team | Cadillac | -138 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | 3 | Mivano | Acura | -160 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
KINETIC 240 AT MICHELIN RACEWAY ROAD ATLANTA | ROUND 1 | GTD RESULTS
| POS. | ST. | NO. | TEAM | MANUFACTURER | DRIVER 1 | DRIVER 2 | INTERVAL | PTS. |
| 1 | 7 | 107 | Risi Competizione by GnG | Ferrari | Nicolas Mateo | Daniel Pásztor | 121 laps | 374 |
| 2 | 17 | 161 | VØRAX | Mercedes-AMG | Beckham Jacir | Manuel Troncoso | -2.012 | 334 |
| 3 | 1 | 114 | EMM Esports | Chevrolet | Dáire McCormack | Jerome Fischer | -10.406 | 335 |
| 4 | 13 | 171 | BMW M Team MOUZ | BMW | Maximilian Benecke | Moritz Löhner | -15.539 | 298 |
| 5 | 8 | 132 | Bleu Mercure Esport | Porsche | Vasilios Beletsiotis | Thibault Cazaubon | -1 L | 283 |
| 6 | 4 | 134 | natural elements by Walkenhorst | Aston Martin | Josh Thompson | James Beumee | -1 L | 278 |
| 7 | 2 | 124 | TC Esports | Chevrolet | Carlos Fenollosa | Pablo Espes | -1 L | 272 |
| 8 | 5 | 144 | TC Esports Academy | Chevrolet | Vicente Aparicio | Diego Fernández | -1 L | 256 |
| 9 | 28 | 110 | MAHLE RACING TEAM | BMW | Felix Quirmbach | Rainer Talvar | -1 L | 223 |
| 10 | 23 | 196 | BS TURNER | BMW | Phil Denes | Daniel Lafuente | -1 L | 218 |
| 11 | 6 | 199 | Nova Legio Racing | Lamborghini | Yohann Harth | Kevin Ellis Jr | -1 L | 225 |
| 12 | 21 | 126 | UNI-G Racing | Lamborghini | Dániel Oláh | Mate Varga | -1 L | 200 |
| 13 | 22 | 128 | Vesta Sport | Ferrari | Sem Giesbers | Gaël Valero | -1 L | 189 |
| 14 | 19 | 125 | SDR SIMRACING | Ford | Marcos Saavedra | Santiago Baztarrica | -1 L | 182 |
| 15 | 18 | 118 | Altitude FreeM eSports | Aston Martin | Francis Mcginn | Harrison Crowther | -1 L | 173 |
| 16 | 15 | 187 | WSR Esports | Aston Martin | Andrew Caron | Ross Macfarlane | -1 L | 166 |
| 17 | 20 | 179 | Alpha One by SX | Porsche | Lewis Woods | Luca Wunsch | -1 L | 151 |
| 18 | 29 | 112 | Fiercely Forward | Lamborghini | Niclas Laubisch | Samuel Ward | -2 L | 132 |
| 19 | 27 | 190 | UNI-G Racing | Ford | Mate Mihalidesz | David Toth | -2 L | 124 |
| 20 | 25 | 188 | WSR Esports | Aston Martin | Lukas Prada | Marley Joffe | -2 L | 116 |
| 21 | 30 | 127 | Vesta Sport | Mercedes-AMG | Samuele Spiezio | Roberto Rebechi | -2 L | 101 |
| 22 | 11 | 142 | THE FARM | Porsche | Geoffrey Leemans | Evan Girod | -2 L | 110 |
| 23 | 12 | 123 | SDR Simracing | BMW | Roman Pascucci | Fabrizio Belziti | -2 L | 99 |
| 24 | 26 | 177 | Zero7 Racing | Porsche | Lorenzo Castellani | Alessio Bonino | -2 L | 75 |
| 25 | 14 | 162 | VØRAX | Mercedes-AMG | Felipe Cabrera Loyola | Nicolás Rubilar | -2 L | 77 |
| 26 | 32 | 178 | Maniti Racing | Ford | Tim Kern | Ryan van de Grijp | -2 L | 51 |
| 27 | 16 | 121 | Ronin-Sim-Sport.com | Mercedes-AMG | Leif Sebastian | Shoma Shintani | -3 L | 55 |
| 28 | 31 | 109 | Team Purple Coanda | Ford | Victoria Thomson | Andrea Aymon | -4 L | 31 |
| 29 | 24 | 198 | Nova Legio Racing | Lamborghini | Daniel Antúnez | Benedek Vida | -4 L | 27 |
| 30 | 9 | 141 | THE FARM | Ferrari | Enzo Tebani | Nicolas Lux | -7 L | 32 |
| 31 | 3 | 111 | Ronin-Sim-Sport.com | Ferrari | Lewis Barlow | Henry Joslyn | -7 L | 40 |
| 32 | 10 | 115 | EMM Esports | Chevrolet | Raphael Rennhofer | Luca Neudeck | -36 L | 31 |
GTD STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 1 AT MICHELIN RACEWAY ROAD ATLANTA
| POS. | NO. | TEAM | MANUFACTURER | PTS. | WINS | POLES | T-5’s | T-10’s |
| 1 | 107 | Risi Competizione by GnG | Ferrari | 374 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 114 | EMM Esports | Chevrolet | -39 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | 161 | VØRAX | Mercedes-AMG | -40 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | 171 | BMW M Team MOUZ | BMW | -76 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | 132 | Bleu Mercure Esport | Porsche | -91 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | 134 | natural elements by Walkenhorst | Aston Martin | -96 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | 124 | TC Esports | Chevrolet | -102 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | 144 | TC Esports Academy | Chevrolet | -118 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | 199 | Nova Legio Racing | Lamborghini | -149 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | 110 | MAHLE RACING TEAM | BMW | -151 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
LEAVING ROAD ATLANTA
One race down, and this year, there are four races to go from here for both classes. Last year saw five races, with two of them on the same day at different venues, each a single class.
This year, Long Beach and VIRginia are gone, replaced with Watkins Glen and Laguna Seca in the third and fourth rounds of the season. Sebring, of course, will be the second round of the season once again, and is up next. The season concludes as usual at Daytona in November.
NEXT RACE
After Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, the series continues for the second race of the season at Sebring International Raceway, in two weeks on October 11th.
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.