Ireland’s Alex Dunne made a statement on Saturday during the opening rounds of the 2024 FIA SIMAGIC F4 eSports Global Championship Series. Despite racing at two different venues, the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello and Okayama International Circuit, with those tracks announced 24 hours prior, both races were nearly identical as Dunne crossed the line in first both times, ahead of the rest in the 30-driver global series.
To make up the roster, 10 drivers from each of the three qualifying regions—the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe—were qualified into the 30-car field. As it was evident throughout the qualifying series, as they had the highest Strength of Field throughout, the European fleet was nearly unstoppable in both events, locking out the podium both times. Dunne was up against Spain’s Alejandro Sánchez in both races. Both times, Sánchez led the most laps. Both times, Dunne was able to capitalize in the closing laps to score the victories.
“I pushed away with Alejandro until two to go, and then I went for the move,” Dunne said post-race. “We had a good bit of racing… we were very close, and on edge, to crashing, but thankfully we both ended up being OK… I went for the move at the right time and it paid off.”
The four-event, eight-race schedule, with two tracks scheduled in each event, utilizes fixed-setup racing to keep all competitors on a level playing field. Combined with the hidden schedule, drivers don’t have much time to hone in on the task. Both Dunne and Sánchez thrived in the opening round, racing amongst Great Britain’s Luke McKeown in the first race and Australia’s Hugh Barter in the second.
Sánchez picked up a pair of podiums, despite leading the most laps both times, and sits second in the standings leaving Okayama. In the second race, Sánchez and Barter made contact, allowing for Great Britain’s Graham Carroll to sneak through and into the runner-up position.
Leading the charge for the Americas was Chile’s Nicolás Rubilar at Mugello, finishing seventh, and Brazil’s Victor Miranda at Okayama, finishing fourth. As for the A-P region, Jaidyn J Ladic was the top finisher in the Mugello event, finishing 14th, while Kazuki Fujita finished seventh in the Okayama race.
FIA SIMAGIC F4 eSports Global Championship Series – Race #1 results from Mugello were as follows:
Fin.
St.
No.
Driver
Laps
Interval
Led
Region
Pts.
1
3
22
Alex Dunne
12
0.000
1
Europe
25
2
2
47
Alejandro Sánchez
12
-0.313
11
Europe
20
3
1
96
Luke McKeown
12
-0.369
0
Europe
16
4
6
71
Aaron Vazquezz
12
-0.469
0
Europe
14
5
4
31
Martin Kadlečík
12
-0.656
0
Europe
12
6
9
29
Graham Carroll
12
-0.965
0
Europe
10
7
18
7
Nicolás Rubilar
12
-8.110
0
Americas
9
8
11
61
Gordon Mutch
12
-8.146
0
Europe
8
9
16
20
Moritz Löhner
12
-8.302
0
Europe
7
10
15
11
Felipe Pujol Dantas
12
-8.444
0
Americas
6
11
20
79
Felipe Cabrera Loyola
12
-8.704
0
Americas
5
12
12
91
Elvis Rankin
12
-10.547
0
Americas
4
13
10
9
Elliott Vayron
12
-12.615
0
Europe
3
14
25
99
Jaidyn J Ladic
12
-14.252
0
Asia-Pac
2
15
17
51
Jackson Rezende
12
-15.239
0
Americas
1
16
24
92
Calieb Hydes
12
-15.557
0
Asia-Pac
0
17
30
12
Felipe Juliato
12
-17.672
0
Americas
0
18
27
55
Shoma Shintani
12
-18.017
0
Asia-Pac
0
19
19
63
Hayata Asaga
12
-23.645
0
Asia-Pac
0
20
23
21
Marcello Rivera
12
-25.335
0
Asia-Pac
0
21
7
43
Ralph Benitez
9
-3L
0
Americas
0
22
13
56
Damon Woods
8
-4L
0
Asia-Pac
0
23
28
3
Kody Deith
6
-6L
0
Asia-Pac
0
24
14
73
Alejandro Sendra
4
-8L
0
Asia-Pac
0
25
22
35
Leo Ovtcharov
4
-8L
0
Americas
0
26
29
17
Victor Miranda
4
-8L
0
Americas
0
27
26
32
Kazuki Fujita
3
-9L
0
Asia-Pac
0
28
21
74
Benjamin Roberts
1
-11L
0
Asia-Pac
0
29
5
68
Hugh Barter
0
DNF
0
Europe
0
30
8
23
Michael Janney
0
DNF
0
Americas
0
FIA SIMAGIC F4 eSports Global Championship Series – Race #2 results from Okayama were as follows:
Fin.
St.
No.
Driver
Laps
Interval
Led
Region
Pts.
1
1
22
Alex Dunne
14
0.000
2
Europe
25
2
3
29
Graham Carroll
14
-1.206
0
Europe
20
3
2
47
Alejandro Sánchez
14
-2.041
12
Europe
16
4
17
17
Victor Miranda
14
-3.940
0
Americas
14
5
21
12
Felipe Juliato
14
-6.992
0
Americas
12
6
8
96
Luke McKeown
14
-7.102
0
Europe
10
7
25
32
Kazuki Fujita
14
-8.399
0
Asia-Pac
9
8
5
68
Hugh Barter
14
-8.484
0
Europe
8
9
30
91
Elvis Rankin
14
-8.463
0
Americas
7
10
19
73
Alejandro Sendra
14
-8.536
0
Asia-Pac
6
11
23
11
Felipe Pujol Dantas
14
-8.615
0
Americas
5
12
7
99
Jaidyn J Ladic
14
-9.294
0
Asia-Pac
4
13
20
56
Damon Woods
14
-16.184
0
Asia-Pac
3
14
26
21
Marcello Rivera
14
-16.643
0
Asia-Pac
2
15
29
74
Benjamin Roberts
14
-16.994
0
Asia-Pac
1
16
24
63
Hayata Asaga
14
-29.344
0
Asia-Pac
0
17
4
3
Kody Deith
14
-1:06.643
0
Asia-Pac
0
18
14
20
Moritz Löhner
13
-1L
0
Europe
0
19
10
71
Aaron Vazquezz
11
-3L
0
Europe
0
20
28
55
Shoma Shintani
9
-5L
0
Asia-Pac
0
21
27
92
Calieb Hydes
9
-5L
0
Asia-Pac
0
22
18
79
Felipe Cabrera Loyola
9
-5L
0
Americas
0
23
6
31
Martin Kadlečík
8
-6L
0
Europe
0
24
9
61
Gordon Mutch
8
-6L
0
Europe
0
25
12
43
Ralph Benitez
7
-7L
0
Americas
0
26
11
7
Nicolás Rubilar
4
-10L
0
Americas
0
27
13
9
Elliott Vayron
4
-10L
0
Europe
0
28
15
35
Leo Ovtcharov
0
DNF
0
Americas
0
29
16
23
Michael Janney
0
DNF
0
Americas
0
30
22
51
Jackson Rezende
0
DNF
0
Americas
0
FIA SIMAGIC F4 eSports Global Championship Series points through Round 1 are as follows:
Alex Dunne, 50
Alejandro Sánchez, 36
Graham Carroll, 30
Luke McKeown, 26
Aaron Vazquezz. 14
Victor Miranda, 14
Felipe Juliato, 12
Martin Kadlečík, 12
Felipe Pujol Dantas, 11
Elvis Rankin, 11
The next two tracks will be unveiled before the third and fourth race of the season, scheduled for September 28th. Every round of the 2024 FIA SIMAGIC F4 eSports Global Championship will be broadcasted on all of iRacing’s official channels. Coverage starts at 3:00 pm ET / 19:00 GMT / 05:00 AEST.
For more information on the FIA SIMAGIC F4 eSports Global Championship, visit www.iracing.com/fia-f4-esports/. For more information about iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com. To know more about the partnership and access an iRacing license via your local ASN, visit www.FIA.com/iracing.
