NVIDIA Challenger Series Round 4 Results

Round 4 of the Project CARS Esports NVIDIA Challenger Series brought us back home to the UK, to Cheshire’s picturesque Oulton Park circuit.

Our virtual race at this awesome track ran during the same weekend that the stars of the British Touring Car Championship took on the course in real-life. However, we chose an altogether more extreme machine for the Project CARS action. Drivers were tasked with taming the mighty Ruf CTR3 SMS-R, a one-of-a-kind supercar developed by Slightly Mad Studios in partnership with Ruf. This ridiculous machine puts out 750 horsepower, and combined that raw energy with superb engineering and aerodynamic precision.

The track itself is legendary amongst every driver that has ever raced in the UK. Oulton Park is loved for its dramatic elevation changes and super fast sweeping corners - demanding precision and balls from the drivers. Corners like Cascades and Druids will reward brave driving and the whole track rewards maximum attack, whatever the car.

Continue reading to discover which of our drivers confronted this demanding combination and came out on top.

CONSOLE DIVISION

​Team Shark Racing was back at the front once again this time out, with a first win of the season for Atho, last year’s Driver Network runner-up. It was a stonking lap of 1:13.558, which was very nearly matched in second place by his TS teammate, Yinato on a 1:13.586.

Both Yinato and another TS teammate, JP02, were very close to driving outside of the track limits in Hizzy’s chicane. However, on close inspection of lap videos provided by Team Shark, the SMS staff decided that the both drivers kept at least 2 wheels in contact with the white lines throughout the corner, so their laps stand.

​It was a great week for the VP-drivers team, as jralphy took his second podium of 2016 in third, while ockerocker and Darwin_Daume also scored solid points in ninth and tenth.

Elsewhere is a slightly more difficult week for SDL Motorsport and Team TBA. SoniK and Rotax scored good points for SDL in fourth and fifth, but they were the only drivers the team had in the top ten this time out. For TBA, there was solitary point for Zakspeed_TV in twentieth, while kie25’s lap unfortunately had to be left out of the results, as his leaderboard entry did not include his ghost.

​All this means that Team Shark’s Yinato has moved to the top of the driver standings after Round 4, on 145 points, just 8 ahead of SDL’s SoniK who has 137. Rotax remains close behind in third on 126, followed by Atho for Team Shark in fourth on 122.

In the team standings, SDL Motorsport remains on top of the pile, but Team Shark has closed the gap once more, with the top 2 now only separated by 10 points. VP-Drivers’ great points haul this week sees the team leap up the table to third, ahead of Team Psynchro in fourth and Team TBA in fifth.

---

PC DIVISION

​The pace in the PC Division was slightly quicker than on console this week, where BAM’s Khaki took his second consecutive win with a time of 1:13.400. Speeddemon91 grabbed his first podium of 2016 with second place on 1:13.466, followed by SDL’s Masa in third.

This was the first NCS Round where we haven’t had 2 or more SDL drivers on the podium, Mangator had to settle for fourth at Oulton Park, after a run of three consecutive third place finishes in the previous Rounds.

The Project CARS Polska and 5aces teams continue to be the best of the rest, with Polska’s TomiKilos driving home in sixth place, followed by 5aces’ IJJauTaH in seventh. Our PC NCS drivers have been perhaps the most consistent we have ever seen in Project CARS Esports. How long can they keep it up for though? Maintaining each driver’s form will be key to the this Division. If any one falters, doors will surely open up for their rivals to make some big gains in the Rounds ahead.

Beside’s Khaki’s victory, it was an overall superb event for the BAM team at Oulton, as it’s entire squad scored points. Anto, DyndaS, Tuscan and Psygnosix finished eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh to bring home a nice pile of points for their team.
​
This means that BAM Racing moves to the top of the NCS team standings on PC with 395 points. Ahead of SDL Motorsport in second on 363. 5aces and Project CARS Polska maintain their positions behind in third and fourth, while FAF Motorsport jumps up to fifth place thanks to Speeddemon91’s first podium of the year.