Mixed Friday for Sophia Flörsch in Kokoro Invitational Series

The second round of the Kokoro Invitational Series at Barber Motorsport Park was a mixed day for both the ladies on the field - Sophia Flörsch and Beitske Visser. In a “all-in” situation, Flörsch claimed a 5th place and a P20.

The launch of the Kokoro Invitational Esport Series, featuring a plethora of international real-life racing drivers, live coverage and cash prizes was awaited and well received. The championship includes 4 rounds with two races each (the second one with a reverse grid of the first 20 finishers) and drivers from FIA Formula 3, W Series, Formula 4, Road to Indy and some more international single seater series. Participants will use the Dallara F3 car with a fixed setup on the iRacing platform and they will take advantage from Apex Racing TV live coverage with commentatory and graphics on Youtube.

The second double-header round was held on the Barber Motorsport Park virtual racetrack and was a mixed experience for both racings ladies on the grid. The first one hour practice resulted in a 13th and 14th position, with Sophia Flörsch edging Beitske Visser.

The quali shot was not without trouble for drivers like Marius Zug, who lost his car with too little grip. With a little gap, Richard Verschoor secured pole postition ahead of Calan Williams and Zane Maloney. Flörsch qualified on P12 and Visser on P16.

Williams had the better the start and led the race ahead of Verschoor and Maloney after the first corner. In the midfield, some crashes whirled the field in a muddle. Visser lost her race in the pit and rejoined at the end of the field. Dion Gowda and Alfred Nilsson crashed into each other. Victory contender Verschoor lost his car after a small contact with Maloney on lap 3 and dropped down to 10th position right ahead of Flörsch.

After some more contacts with rivals, Verschoor fell back towards the end of the field as he needed to pit. We saw a car without front and rear wing on lap 5, as Laurens van Hoepen lost his racecar over a curb and crashed into the wall. Some laps before the chequered flag Gus Bowers and James Pull had an unlucky overtake and both ended up in the pit. Flörsch showed an impressive improvement as she drove a very good race and fought herself back to position 7. She finished the race on her own best postion in place 5!

Visser ended at P23, two laps down.

The first race winner was Williams, ahead of Zak O´Sullivan and Frederik Vesti.

The second race featuring a reversed grid meant that James Wharton started from pole position right ahead of van Hoepen and Miguel Costa. Visser and Flörsch went into the second round from place 23 and 16.

Conrad Laursen had a very unlucky start, spun in the middle of the pack and several cars couldn´t avoid contact. But this wasn´t the only incident: Niklas Krütten was bumped away and dropped back, Flörsch had a crash in turn 2 as well. Visser was 18th after the start.

On lap 11, Verschoor bumped pole setter Wharton aside and got a penalty after the race with which he lost his second place. So Maloney was declared winner ahead of James Pull and O´Sullivan. After a hard way back Flörsch finished in P20 and Visser ended up in 13th position.

In the championship standings Vesti (56) leads ahead of Maloney (43) and Willams (37). With her 5th place in round 1 of this race day Flörsch is on position 16 with 10 points and Visser still has no points to her name.

Next Friday the series continues in Interlagos, Brazil, with the third double-header live on Youtube.