F1 Esports: Lucas Blakeley extends early championship lead with Imola win

Lucas Blakeley is certainly making a statement of intent in the early stages of the F1 Esports series this season, with him taking a second victory of event one on Thursday night at Imola.

Blakeley was one of the title contenders in 2021 right up to the final stages when driving for Aston Martin, though he would ultimately fall short and see Jarno Opmeer taking the crown.

That appears to have inspired the Scotsman, though, and, with him now driving for McLaren, it appears he is going to be firmly in the championship mix right until the end of this campaign, with him already building up a 29-point lead.

Indeed, on Wednesday he won the opening race at Bahrain having started from pole and then overhauling Opmeer out on track and he has now doubled up on the race victories at this early stage of the season, with him winning at Imola, though he was certainly made to work for the win on Thursday evening.

It was Haas’ Pro Exhibition champion Thomas Ronhaar that took pole position at Imola, with him, as one of the new faces on the grid, showing that he has searing one-lap pace already this season.

He started P2 on Wednesday in Bahrain and took his first P1 on Thursday night, with that surely the first of multiple that he could achieve this season.

The race, though, was not to be his with Marcel Kiefer jumping ahead of him from P2 on the grid into turn one, whilst Blakeley followed the Red Bull man through having started P3.

Reigning champion Opmeer had a difficult start, meanwhile, as he was tagged into a spin on the opening lap.

Indeed, he would manage to scrap back to P10 but already he has seen the gap to Blakeley really open up, with the Scot taking victory ahead of Kiefer and his Red Bull team-mate Frede Rasmussen.

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