Lasse Sørensen goes back-to-back in World eX championship

#RacingForTheClimate continued with the second round of the new RCCO World eX Championship at the Sebring International Raceway. The eX Prix of the United States hosted big names and new teams, including series founder Mike Rockenfeller himself. After close and exciting racing, the familiar figure of Lasse Sørensen took the honors once more in World eX, as the young Danish real-world racing driver firmly established himself at the front of the pack.

World eX, combining the excitement of motorsport and a strong message of sustainability by raising awareness about the climate crisis, features six levels per events with short action-packed races taking the drivers and teams all the way from the qualifying heats through to the Semi Finals, Quarter Finals, Final and then ultimately the winner-takes-all Super Final.

Risto Kappet, R8G Esports

Photo by: VCO

The grid of real race drivers and esports racers, split into their respective groups, lined for the ten one-lap head to races according to the pairings decided upon by Esports Team WRT ahead of the event. The race winners all proceeded straight to Level 3, while the losers moved on to Level 2. The big news in Level 1 came from Lasse Sørensen, who jumped the start in his heat against Mike Rockenfeller and thus had to face off against the competition in Level 2, the Last Chance race.

Level 2 saw the losers from Level 1 racing against the wild card entries at Sebring, Henry Drury (pro) and Denny Wenzel (esports). Drury went on to win the race, ahead of Sørensen, who charged from the back of the field to finish runner-up and secure his spot in Level 3. The best three pro and esports racers all proceeded to the next level with Drury and Sørensen being joined by Bruno Senna on the pro side and esports racers Fabrice Cornélis, Risto Kappet and Liam de Waal.

Levels 3 and 4 saw the heats split into groups once more, real race drivers and esports racers, running heats with eight drivers and then six, respectively. Sørensen and Alen Terzic took the honors for their races in both levels, as the pack was reduced to only six drivers, the three best from each group, heading to Level 5, the Final.

Luca Kita, Biela Racing Team EURONICS

Photo by: VCO

The combined grid for the Final, one race held over three laps, included the previous race winners Sørensen (pro) and Terzic (esports) competing against Kappet (esports), Senna (pro), Martin Stefanko (esports) and James Yu (pro). Only the best driver from each respective group would progress. As was the case during the preceding Levels, Terzic, Sørensen led the way, closely followed by Kappet. In the end, the duo of Terzic and Sørensen finished first and second, setting up a thrilling Super Final.

Terzic versus Sørensen, BS+COMPETITION versus TK9 E-SPEED: All eyes were on the Super Final to see who would win the eX Prix of the United States. Terzi led the way around the famous American circuit, closely perused by Sørensen. The two were inseparable coming onto the back straight and heading into the infamous and bumpy Turn 17 at Sebring. With both drivers on the limit, a small bump from Sørensen was enough to unsettle the rear-end of Terzic’s car, resulting in the Slovakian running wide. Despite a great recovery and power sliding all the way onto the front straight, it was not enough to keep Sørensen at bay, as the Dane went on to cross the finish line in first place. After the race, the passing maneuver was deemed to be a racing incident and thus confirmed Sørensen as the winner, remaining undefeated in World eX so far in its inaugural season.

“It was a good fair race,” said Sørensen, after taking his second World eX victory and adding another Sebring triumph to team founder Tom Kristensen’s many successes at the circuit. “As we say in NASCAR, ‘rubbing is racing,’ so it was a good race and I really enjoyed it. It is amazing to be part of this championship.”

Lasse Sørensen, TK9 E-SPEED

Photo by: VCO

“Congratulations to Lasse for winning two eX Prix in a row. From my experience today, given how competitive the World eX grid is, that is no mean feat,” says Mike Rockenfeller, former DTM champion, Le Mans winner and co-founder of World eX. “I had a lot of fun in the races at Sebring. My goal was to learn more about World eX from a driver’s perspective in order to determine where we can improve. We’ll process what we’ve learned, but I can tell you that it was so much fun against all of these drivers in the eX ZERO prototype.”

With a total of 149 laps completed at Sebring, each adding 10 Euros, the official #RacingForTheClimate jackpot was increased by 1,490 Euros. At the end of the season, the world champion will decide which climate conservation project the jackpot will be devoted to. Fans and sponsors can support World eX’s mission and actively contribute to climate conservation by donating to the #RacingForTheClimate jackpot via well-known platforms like GoFundMe and Twitch.

World eX makes its first visit to Asia for the next round of #RacingForTheClimate at the Sepang International Circuit in four weeks’ time. The eX Prix of Malaysia.

2021 RCCO World eX Championship – #USeXPrix Results

1st #7 Lasse Sørensen (DK) TK9 E-SPEED (pro)

2nd #27 Alen Terzic (SLO) BS+COMPETITION (esports)

3rd #10 Risto Kappet (EST) R8G Esports (esports)

4th #98 Martin Stefanko (CZ) Williams Esports (esports)

5th #20 James Yu (CHN) Absolute Racing (pro)

6th #16 Bruno Senna (BR) Williams Esports (pro)

7th #31 Fabrice Cornélis (B) Esports Team WRT (esports)

8th #28 Thomas Schmid (CH) NIANCO esports (esports)

9th #99 Michi Hoyer (D) Absolute Racing (esports)

10th #61 Henry Drury (GB) Wild Card (pro)

11th #69 Mike Rockenfeller (D) tv racing (pro)

12th #89 Phillippe Denes (USA) BS+COMPETITION (pro)

13th #59 Andre Dietzel (D) tv racing (esports)

14th #33 Gabby Chaves (USA) Patrick Long Esports (pro)

15th #29 Liam de Waal (NL) Patrick Long Esports (esports)

16th #32 Kelvin van der Linde (ZA) Esports Team WRT (pro)

17th #9 Andreas Jochimsen (DK) TK9 E-SPEED (esports)

18th #62 Denny Wenzel (D) Wild Card (esports)

19th #11 Luca Kita (D) Biela Racing Team EURONICS (esports)

20th #45 Frank Biela (D) Biela Racing Team EURONICS (pro)

21st #51 Alain Valente (CH) NIANCO esports (pro)

22nd #8 Pierre-Louis Chovet (F) R8G Esports (pro)

Next Race: eX Prix of Malaysia, Sepang (Broadcast on April 29, 20:00 CET)