CRISTIANMM17 took victory in Semi-Final 1 of the 2018 MotoGP™ eSport Championship, putting in a commanding performance to win the 10-lap race around Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in style. ANDREWZH took second on the Repsol Honda and pulled off some incredible moves, with LUIGI48GP completing the podium for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing.
There was some serious drama almost off the line as a multi-rider incident occurred at Turn 1 before another crash at Turn 2 added yet more, but out of the carnage it was CRISTIANMM17 who emerged in the lead – streaking clear of the pack on his Angel Nieto Team machine. Left with managing the pressure at the front of the race, it was his to lose.
The crashes and incident had left a somewhat shuffled pack behind, however. One of those left at the back and trying to fight through the field was reigning Champion TRASTEVERE73, as well as IOTIFOROSSI, and the compatriots had a battle royal on home soil. But it was ANDREWZH able to stay clear of the drama behind as he clawed back some of the gap to the front.
As the last lap dawned, the battle to complete the podium was hotting up, too. CRISTIANMM17 was able to hold off ANDREWZH to take the win as ELEGHOST555 honed in on LUIGI48GP – but another dose of big drama hit. Lining up a move on the Red Bull Factory Racing machine of LUIGI48GP, ELEGHOST555 then suddenly highsided out – leaving Italian LUIGI48GP to complete the podium on the RC16.
TIMOTHYMCGARDEN61 therefore took fourth – another involved in some drama – after the incident ahead, with the top five completed by ADRIAAN_26. ELEGHOST555, meanwhile, eventually finished in sixth after having enough gap to keep that position despite the crash. Those six will be the players going through to the Grand Final to play for the title alongside the season finale of MotoGP™ at Valencia in November.
So who missed out? In all the drama JUANNH_16 took P7 by the flag, reigning Champion TRASTEVERE73 was P8 and in the early drama before even more, and IOTIFOROSSI came home in ninth. IVAN_AVELLA, PAUL_IG and SUOMY all had incident-packed races.
Now, they’ll have another chance to make it through, however, with Online Challenges 5 – 8 soon available to play for those looking to qualify for Semi-Final 2 at the Movistar eSports Center in Madrid in October. Who will make it through? Stay tuned!