rFactor 2 hosted the “Race of the Season” event on their competition system, enabling the fastest hotlap qualifiers to race live on stream for a 45 minute sprint race. Mia Rose managed to qualify 24th fastest to secure a grid slot in the top split, racing against many of the fastest drivers around the world including the likes of Michi Hoyer and Henri Sinik at the prestigious and world renown Daytona International Speedway. With a number of no-shows, Mia ended up starting the race as high as 16th with a chance to finish right in the top 10. A fantastic start allowed her to climb to 12th in the early stages of the race, encountering herself in a tight and exciting battle with Satellite Racing driver Liam Rance. The two traded blows at each corner, one doing their best to out-brake the other throughout the World Center of Racing’s tricky sections. There were many nail-biters throughout, including a tense moment coming into turn one with three cars going for one spot and having to fan out three abreast into the hard braking zone.
Coming into the pits for her mandatory stop, Mia wound up committing an error, taking tires along with fuel and remaining stationary for an additional 27 seconds. Determined to make up for the mistake she pushed with the new fresh set of tyres, clocking in the second fastest lap of the race and getting as high as 12th from her 19th place position exiting the pits. Unfortunately she had not put in enough fuel to make the race distance on the highest engine mode, forcing her to change fuel mixes across various parts of the track. Unfortunately as she exited NASCAR turn 4 her fuel supply was depleted, making her coast towards the line to 14th place.
Although the final race result wasn’t as high as Mia would have hoped for, the broadcast had given her a lot of attention, showing off the beautiful pink Queens’ Design car to the whole world with our team mascot Victoire Laviolette adorned across the sides. We are proud to have our team shown in such a light to many sim racing fans across the world, and we hope to reach an even broader spectrum in the future to push for change in the industry. We wish for our supporters to follow us every step of the way, and as always we thank them for their continuous support.
(text by Ruby Acosta, pictures by Mia Rose)