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Williams Esports Wins IMSA GTP Sim Racing Championship as Verstappen Faces Challenges
Williams Esports secured the 2024-25 GTP IMSA Global Esports Championship after a dramatic final race at virtual Daytona, marked by an incident involving Max Verstappen.
The four-time Formula 1 champion participated as a wildcard in the championship’s finale, which featured a $25,000 prize pool for the season-long teams’ titles in the GTP and GTD classes. Verstappen, starting third on the grid, made an aggressive move for the lead at Turn 1 but misjudged his Acura’s braking, colliding with the championship-leading Williams BMW. Both cars went off track, sustaining damage and dropping to the back of the field.
Verstappen was handed a drive-through penalty for causing the collision, further hindering his team’s race. The Dutch driver’s car, shared with Gustavo Ariel, suffered additional setbacks after contact with a GTD-class backmarker. Ariel eventually finished the two-hour, 40-minute race in 12th place. Reflecting on the incident, Verstappen admitted fault: “I locked up the rears, and it’s tough to control that in this car. Unfortunately, I couldn’t avoid the Williams, which was unlucky. My mistake.”
Meanwhile, Williams Esports drivers Jaden Munoz and Matt Farrow managed a 10th-place finish, enough to secure the GTP championship for the sim racing team headquartered at the same Grove campus as their F1 counterparts.
Elsewhere in the competition, Agustín Canapino, a former Juncos Hollinger IndyCar driver, completed all four rounds of the series. Partnered with Maximilian Muir in this final race, Canapino’s Soelpec Precision Racing team finished 14th at Daytona and ended the season fifth in the standings.
In the GTD category, Team Redline, associated with Verstappen, claimed the championship title. Florian Lebigre and Enzo Bonito, a former Race of Champions competitor, delivered strong performances, including two class victories, to secure their triumph.
Despite setbacks in Daytona, Verstappen is set to compete in the upcoming 24 Hours of Daytona sim racing event, held on iRacing from January 17-19.
This season showcased the growing prominence of esports within motorsport, blending top-tier racing talent and competitive sim racing teams in a high-stakes virtual championship.
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