The Race of Champions event has been a dream for every motorsports fan as drivers from multiple disciplines come together and compete. But this year, the ROC event has brought out a massive upset as the pair of sim racers Lucas Blakeley and Jarno Opmeer managed to beat current F1 driver Valtteri Bottas and his partner, former F1 champion Mika Hakkinen.
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Today afternoon kicked off with this huge surprise in the two Round 1 play-offs as Team Finland with Hakkinen and Bottas went out to Team eROC on the frozen Baltic Sea track which is located just 60 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle. Both Blakeley and Bottas got off to great starts but soon the Scottish esports champ took the lead and completed the first half of the race in 51.70 seconds. He built on the momentum and soon completed a clinical win by finishing the race in 1.41.29 minutes.
Watch the video here:
This is not the first time Blakeley has managed to beat a current F1 driver as he pulled off these heroics. Last year as well when he defeated four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel in his first-ever race in a real car. But after the win, Team eROC were defeated 3-0 by Team Germany, comprising Mick Schumacher and Vettel in the next stage of the event.
Reacting to her performance, Blakely tweeted how he gave he and his partner gave everything and hence are proud of their performance. He posted, “Gave it 110%, left nothing on the table, and ultimately it was my undoing but I think both @jarno_ompeer and I can be proud of what we managed today, we had genuine pace on all races and gave it everything,” he tweeted.
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