It was a good start to the season for the ROWE Racing and BMW Junior driver, as Neil Verhagen wins the 2022 Fanatec Esports GT Pro Series opener at Imola.
Driving the only BMW M4 GT3 in the field, Verhagen and the car were making their debut in the championship, which runs on Assetto Corsa Competizione. And they’ve started well, with the pole position, fastest lap and victory.

Verhagen won by 26 seconds from the Beechdean AMR Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Nicki Thiim, with Juuse Puhakka taking third in the Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS Evo II GT3. And fourth overall was the sister Attempto Racing Audi, with Alex Aka taking the Silver Class honours, from Ezequiel Perez Companc in the Madpanda Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, and Yuki Nemoto in a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo for Vincenzo Sospiri Racing.
There were issues for various drivers, with both Nemoto and Dani Juncadella suffering problems when the pit window opened.
The series features 12 Pro and 12 Silver drivers battled for real-world GT World Challenge Endurance Cup Teams points inside the Fanatec Arena at each round. As Imola wasn’t on the calendar last season, it was a first visit for some of the drivers and teams, as they sim raced from the paddock area. And the top five in each class score points for their teams, offering the chance to equal a real world race victory across the season.
The points scores were:
Pro:
- Neil Verhagen – Rowe Racing 5pts
- Nicki Thiim – Beechdean AMR 4pts
- Juuso Puhakka – Attempto Racing 3pts
- Dries Vanthoor – Team WRT 2pts
- Nicklas Nielsen – Iron Lynx 1 pts
Silver:
- Alax Aka – Attempto Racing 5 pts
- Ezequiel Perez Companc – Madpanda Motorsport 4 pts
- Yuki Nemoto – Vincenzo Suspiri Racing 3 pts
- Brendon Leitch – Leipert Motorsport 2 pts
- Konsta Lappalainen – Emil Frey Racing 1 pts
Round 2 of the 2022 Fanatec Esports GT Pro Series will take place on June 3rd to 5th, at the Paul Ricard circuit.
You can keep up with all our latest racing Esports coverage, here. Along with all the latest Assetto Corsa Competizione news and updates for PC and console editions, here. And every piece of content available in our full Assetto Corsa Competizione Car List, and Assetto Corsa Competizione Track List.
Assetto Corsa Competizione is available as a digital download for the PC via Steam, the Xbox One via the Microsoft Store and the PS4 via the PlayStation Store. Or as a physical edition from Game or Amazon. The Xbox Season Pass is available here, and the PS4 Season Pass is here, for £19.99.
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