Sander Tabbers and Remco Vinjé deliver a rock-solid second place for Goodfellas Simracing after almost six hours of racing at Mount Panorama.
On 3 October, the iRacing Bathurst 1000 was on the schedule for Goodfellas Simracing. An endurance race of 161 laps on the notorious Mount Panorama Circuit, where concentration and mistake-free driving are essential. Sander Tabbers and Remco Vinjé shared the Chevrolet Camaro V8 Supercar Gen 3, with the main goal of bringing the car home safely.
Qualifying did not go as hoped: the team failed to set a valid lap time, which meant starting the race from P16. In a six-hour race, however, a less favourable grid slot is not necessarily decisive. Sander and Remco proved that over the course of the race.
A strong climb through the field
Sander took the start and gained a place straight away. In the opening phase he profited from several incidents ahead of him, in which multiple cars went off and one team lost its connection. Sander stayed alert, avoided a spinning car on the mountain and kept the Camaro out of trouble. In this first stint in particular, Sander showed how important it is to keep a cool head at Mount Panorama. While cars around him lost control, he stayed mistake-free and made the most of every opportunity. After five laps the team had already climbed to P10.
At the first pit stop on lap 29, Goodfellas was running P9. Remco then took over and drove a strong, almost flawless stint. By the next pit stop on lap 57 the team had climbed to P6. Sander kept the pace high after that too and stayed out of trouble. By lap 85, P4 had been reached.
Over the following stints Goodfellas kept moving steadily forward. While rivals lost time by flying off the track or making small mistakes, the team stuck to a consistent pace and a controlled approach. The Racing Crooners Red, who had started from P19, also worked their way further forward throughout the race. Both teams made a strong climb and gradually closed in on the podium. The cooperation between Sander and Remco was excellent and neither of them picked up any damage.
The fight for the podium
In the closing phase, the battle for second place came more and more into focus. The Racing Crooners Red were a serious rival. During Remco's stint, the gap to the team behind shrank to around 5 seconds. Sander then took over for his final stint and stretched the gap back out to 19 seconds.
Meanwhile, the original leader crashed several times and eventually decided to retire from the race. That moved Goodfellas up to second place. The new leader, however, turned out to be too fast to catch.
A decisive final stint
With 21 laps to go, Remco began the decisive stint. The task was clear: defend the lead, keep the Camaro in one piece and secure second place. With the number three still giving chase, there was no room for unnecessary risks.
Remco kept a cool head and drove the final stint without a mistake as well. He extended the gap further to around 46 seconds. After 161 laps the Goodfellas Camaro crossed the line in second place, after a total race time of 5 hours, 58 minutes and 54.7 seconds.
The numbers underline the team performance: Sander drove 83 laps, Remco 78, and together they picked up just 6 incident points. On the challenging Mount Panorama, in the powerful Chevrolet Camaro V8 Supercar Gen 3, that is an impressive result.
After checking with the team, Remco celebrated the finish with a few victory donuts, before driving towards the pit lane waving to the crowd.
The win stayed out of reach, but second place felt like a wonderful reward for almost six hours of consistent, controlled driving. From P16 to P2: a race for Goodfellas Simracing to be proud of.
Planning an endurance race with your own team? Read how to plan iRacing endurance stints or work out your stints with the Stint Planner.
Another wet endurance? Also read our Watkins Glen 6 Hours report: P4 in the rain in the LMP2.