15 August, 09:00 local time. Sander and Bert lined up for Goodfellas Simracing Team 1 at the start of the 1000 km of Portimão. Four hours later — after a stop-and-go, some damage and an extra pit stop — the HPD ARX-01c was in P6.
The iRacing endurance race was a multiclass event: HPD ARX-01c, GT1 and GT2 on the same track. Team 1 picked the HPD — the quicker proto, hard to tame, but enormous fun around Portimão. Exactly the kind of car that keeps you sharp for the whole race.
Qualifying and start: P7 at Portimão
Sander handled qualifying and the opening stint. Goodfellas started the 1000 km of Portimão from P7. The first laps were messy, but Sander found his rhythm and settled back into seventh. Solid driving and the inevitable pit-stop lottery of a multiclass endurance brought him into the pits in second after a full stint.
Pit-lane mistake and the fight back
Bert took over — and sped in the pit lane. The next lap brought a stop-and-go. Team 1 dropped to P12. From there: head down and go.
Clean, consistent stints from both Bert and Sander worked the team back forward. It was not without contact: light front-end damage twice, a tap at the rear followed by a damage-free spin, and plenty of push-and-shove in traffic. After four hours, Goodfellas was back in P6 in the 1000 km of Portimão.
Multiclass traffic at Portimão
On Portimão’s straights the GT1 and GT2 cars could match the HPD ARX-01c for acceleration and top speed. In the braking zones and corners they clearly could not. That speed gap created chaos: overtaking, falling back, and constantly judging who you pass where. Exactly the kind of traffic that makes or breaks an iRacing multiclass endurance.
Closing stage: holding P6
P6 stayed firmly in Goodfellas’ hands. Until an incident leaving the pit lane forced Sander back in. Temporarily P7. Half an hour of hard driving and Sander took sixth back.
A smart strategy and a lean fuel map gave the team a favourable number of stops — the kind of maths our Stint Planner is built for. Combined with the solid driving from Sander and Bert, that earned a deserved P6 in a hard 1000 km of Portimão.