Lasse Sœrensen showed a brilliant performance in the German eX Prix at the Nürburgring scoring his third win of the season before also winning the all-decisive Super Final on the Nordschleife, sealing the World Championship title for the esports racing team of Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen.
In 2021, Sœrensen had been the outstanding driver in Season 1 of the esports racing series for zero-emission prototypes. However, after winning four of the ten regular races, he had been defeated in the Super Final on the Nordschleife by Williams Esports driver Martin Stefanko.
A tight battle to the end
This year, Esports Racing Team WRT was leading the standings going into the Super Final courtesy of three wins and seven consecutive podium finishes of Devin Braune. The German started the 2-lap Super Final from pole position and kept the lead until the end of Lap 1 before Sœrensen passed Braune out of the slipstream on the “Döttinger Höhe” straight in a similar way he had lost the title to Martin Stefanko a year ago. Braune was unable to stay close enough to Sœrensen on Lap 2 and had to settle for P2.
“I’m sweating a lot but I’m super happy for the whole team TK9 E-SPeeD – what an enjoyable year,” said Sœrensen after crossing the finish line. “I was 100% focused on the last lap. That was a full-push lap to try to get (Devin Braune) out of the slipstream. That was really hard. In the Super Final it was about trying to push, but not pushing too much. It’s a hard track. If you do just a slight mistake you are out of the race. That was nerve-wracking but if finally worked out. I was focusing on doing what I did in practice, trying to nail the breaking points, trying to nail the apexes and making sure to do no mistakes. Last year I wasn’t fully prepared for the Nordschleife race. I was too focused on the Grand Prix circuit. This year I committed more towards Nordschleife. I think that worked out because I really felt confident. That helped me a lot. Last year I was a bit more nervous. This year I was fairly calm.”
Despite concentrating his preparation on the Super Final, Sœrensen delivered a brilliant performance also in Round 9 of the World eX Championship on the Nürburgring Grand Prix circuit. The Dane set the fastest lap in Qualifying and won every heat including a hard-fought Final against ACER VERO R8G driver Erhan Jajovski.
Heartbreak for Grosjean's team
ACER VERO R8G had opted to bring in one of their fastest esports drivers for German eX Prix. The Mazedonien raced the eX ZERO for the first time and was fast right from the word go but unable to beat Sœrensen in any of the heats. Jajovksi eventually crashed out of the Super Final on Lap 1 while running third.
ACER VERO R8 thus finished the 2022 World eX Championship in third place with their “Vero 88” car behind TK9 E-SPeeD’s “Danish Dynamite” and Esports Team WRT’s No. 31 ESPORTS entry “Walter”.
Esports Team WRT clinched the “Best team” of the year award, beating BS+COMPETITION by just seven points.
Devin Braune was the “Best ESPORTS racer” of the season and Lasse Sørensen the best PRO driver ahead of Beitkse Visser who became the first female driver to achieve a podium finish in the World eX Championship with her third place in the German eX Prix.
Braune and Sørensen both achieved three pole positions in Season 2 sharing the “Fastest qualifier” of the year award.
The 2022 World eX Champions, however, are TK9 E-SPeeD from Denmark with their Team Principal Tom Kristensen, their PRO drivers Lasse Sørensen and Andreas Jochimsen, their ESPORTS racers Oskar Kristensen and Rasmus Busk and last but not least Klimaraded – the Climate Preservation Project the Danish team has been promoting in Season 2.
