Top sim racer Joshua Rogers took the victory in the first round of the ABB Formula E Race at Home Challenge after a tense race long battle.
For the first Challenge race of the ABB Formula E Race at Home Challenge in support of UNICEF, Petar Brljak took pole position in a qualifying session that saw a close grid with the top 11 drivers all covered by one second.
Driving in NIO 333 Racing colours, Brljak charged into the first corner and held his lead despite running in too deep. With a concertina effect into the first turn, the pack all bunched up allowing the leading trio of Brljak, Joshua Rogers and Kevin Siggy to break away.
After setting a blisteringly quick lap in qualifying, the expectation was that Brljak would run clear but Rogers kept his Croatian sim racing rival well within his sights.
In what would be a continuous mistake for Brljak, lap after lap the Croatian racer kept running in too hot into turn one, but despite it being a near carbon copy each lap with Rogers attempting to squeeze by, Brljak defended hard to maintain the lead each time.
After starting at the back of the grid, Archie Hamilton was putting in a strong drive and gradually climbing up the field, but the racing influencer was unable to avoid the danger zone and was eventually eliminated from the race.
Coming into the closing stages, Brljak continued to hold his lead over Rogers and Siggy, with the battle heating up as Rogers continued to hound the rear wheels of Brljak.
In the mid-pack, DS Techeetah test driver James Rossiter was running a strong race amongst the world's fastest sim racers as they all jostled for position behind the real-world driver.
With Brljak's repeated mistake down into turn one bunching the leading three together again, Siggy attempted a move around the outside of Rogers but failed to gain the position.
As the race moved into the penultimate lap, Rogers stepped up the pressure on Brljak and completed a move he tested in the previous lap, lunging up the inside at turn six to barge pass Brljak and take the lead.
After biding his time throughout the race, it was Rogers who crossed the line to take TAG Heuer Porsche's first win in Formula E (albeit in a virtual world). The podium was rounded out by Brljak and Siggy.
Celebrating winning the first round, Rogers said: "What a race! It was pretty crazy right from the beginning. I tried to capitalise as best I could and bide my time. I probably pushed a little bit too hard early on and so I was struggling towards the end of the race. But then I had the opportunity to pounce on Petar and I took my chance at Turn 6.”