After a small break from racing activities to give our drivers a well needed break, the Queens’ Design sprung back into action to prepare for their future endurance racing endeavors by participating in the RCI Wednesday Team Championship finale at Misano. New for this race was the appearance of April Carlsvard, a driver who has previous experience with GTWR Academy and Realish Racing while assisting with physics development for rFactor 2 modding group Global Endurance Modding. They immediately got to grips with their new surroundings, showing an immediate improvement already in the practice session and showcasing their potential as a top driver. Ruby Acosta would qualify the car for the hour and 20 minute race in the night time, achieving her second pole position under Queens’ Design with a 1:33.680 – only a hundredth off of trailing driver Matt Campbell who posted a 1:33.690. This was also her second pole position at Misano, previously taking first in the Silver split of the Friday GT Challenge.
Ruby would see the green flag as she attempted to defend the lead position from Campbell who was hot on her heels until a very late pass, resulting in the McLaren driver colliding side by side in turn four demoting Queens’ Design to second. Ruby would continue to chase behind the new leader, keeping the gap steady whilst remaining one of the two fastest cars on the track. She’d accumulate two questionable track limit warnings consecutively at turn 13, making the task of staying away from a drive through much more difficult at the later stages of the race.
With a comfortable gap to third place Ruby would finish her stint to hand over the car to newcomer April. With a perfectly executed stop and driver swap, April continued to add to the gap behind while keeping close to newly swapped in driver Alessio Ardito in the 720S just ahead. April put on an impressive performance by keeping the car clean of any further track limit warnings with the notoriously finicky limit thresholds so close to the optimal racing line. It was also a tough task to keep their nose clean as not one but two stricken cars had stopped right on the racing surface, April having to stay alert in the late stages of the race. The pair prevailed however, as the #469 car crossed the line in second, a wonderful result for Queens’ Design’s first multi-driver outing. With their chemistry already apparent, we’re excited to see what this pair can achieve next.
(text by Ruby Acosta, pictures by Aenore Rose)