Lazarus Racing led Red Bull Esports after the second day of the Super Final for the second season of the Le Mans Esports Series.
The Super Final of the latest LMES season - a joint venture between Motorsport Games, the FIA World Endurance Championship and the ACO - is taking place over four consecutive days ahead of the real-world event this weekend.
Red Bull and Lazarus ended the first day tied at the top of the Pro class while Williams Esports and defending champions Veloce Esports completed the top four.
Ross May took victory in the opening race at Monza to vault Lazarus into the points lead after the race-leading Red Bull car of Aurelien ‘Laige’ Mallet collided with a Pro-Am car.
Frenchman Mallet was forced to settle for second place as May scored Lazarus’ first victory of the Super Final.
In race two, Mallet’s Red Bull team-mate Robin Betka claimed his second victory by edging Lazarus’ Daniel Nyman in a closely fought contest in Porsche 935/78s around the old Le Mans circuit (no Mulsanne Straight chicanes).
The leading two teams made contact in the third and final race of the day, which featured drivers racing Jaguar XJR-9s around the Nurburgring grand prix circuit.
Red Bull’s Alex Arnou lost the race lead on the ninth of 70 laps when Total Performance Racing’s Shaun Arnold drove around the outside of Arnou at the Turn 1 right-hander to take the race lead.
Lazarus’ Tobin Leigh attempted to take advantage of the battling duo a couple of corners later, but Leigh and Arnou made minor contact with the latter taking to the grass and dropping to third place.
Leigh went onto win the race while Arnold was forced to make a penultimate lap pitstop after running out of fuel - this dropped him from second to third place.
Arnou faced further problems at ended up fourth at the chequered flag to ensure Lazarus comes away from the second day with a 20-point advantage at the head of the drivers’ championship.
Total Performance Racing bounced back from been taking out at the start of the first race of the day to round out the top three ahead of Williams and Veloce.
Solar Vision Racing and Ryze Motorsport became the latest teams to be eliminated, only the top three after Thursday’s races will make it to the grand finale on Friday.
There is just one point separating leaders Hotlappers from second-place LM Squad in Pro-Am, with Hairpin Heroes four points adrift in third place.
Motorsport Games is the trusted partner of choice for motorsports rights holders having delivered the 24 Hour of Le Mans Virtual, eNASCAR Heat Pro League and the Formula E Race At Home Challenge in recent months.