Verstappen, Doohan winners in Imola flood relief sim event

Max Verstappen and Jack Doohan were winners in a special Team Redline sim racing event at Imola to raise money for Italian flood relief.

Shane van Gisbergen had been confirmed in the field but failed to appear as he travelled back from racing his Supercar in Symmons Plains.

The sim racing event was held in place of what would have been the Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, an event cancelled due to floods in the region around Imola.

In response, Ferrari and the sport itself both donated €1 million, while Lando Norris also contributed via his own online stream on Friday night.

The McLaren driver then held a watch along for Sunday’s Team Redline event before joining the action for the third race of the programme.

Four races were held, starting with Formula 3 for which Verstappen qualified on pole and won.

The field, which included Aston Martin reserve driver Felipe Drugovich, a raft of F2 and F3 drivers, and a host of sim racers, then switched to the Mazda MX5.

Though fastest in qualifying for the race, a community vote saw Verstappen start last, with Red Bull-backed Formula 2 racer Ayumu Iwasa winning.

Having watched on for the opening two races, Norris joined in the Formula Ford encounter, the third race of the programme.

It quickly descended into chaos as the McLaren racer failed to set a time in qualifying and started last – jumping the start such that he held a clear lead into the opening corner.

The 10-minute race became a crash-fest with track limits ignored and shortcuts mandatory to remain competitive.

Through it all, Doohan got to the chequered flag first to make it three different winners from as many racers.

That became four-from-four when sim racing world champion Diogo Pinto won the day’s final race at the wheel of a Toyota GR86.

Verstappen had been in contention early, after again starting from pole, but the lead pack invariably clashed and the Dutchman dropped out of contention.

Live-streamed on Twitch, the event saw more than 24,000 viewers, with proceeds raised going directly to the flood relief effort.