RAFA ERA Esports, Virtus.pro, Williams Sim Racing and Team Nitro will take part in the LAN Finals at Sim Formula Europe in January.
The fifth round of the 2025 Esports Racing League was the final time four teams could lock in their position at the in-person finale, held at SimFormula Europe in January.
Heats
Nine teams came into the last ERL event on Rennsport with a realistic chance of qualifying for the remaining four spots at the LAN final in Maastricht, but for TC Esports, it didn’t get off to a dream start, with Coque Lopez off early in heat one.
Though their problems would pale into insignificance when compared to R8G Esports’, having their final event in their team’s colours.
Marcell Csincsik was buried in the pack in his heat, struggling with the Praga R1 despite his Rennsport experience, and as Jiri Toman tried to make up for that in heat two on the last lap, he spun attempting to pass Tobias Gronewald for the win, giving R8G a bad grid position for the Last Chance Race.
Williams Sim Racing were the more unfortunate of the top teams, missing out on the Quarter-Finals by just one point.
Last Chance Race
Despite their season on the line, Dominik Blajer was as cool as ever in second, holding off Rik van Aerle to progress in the competition. Marcell Csincsik was way down and never looked like breaking the top two, and it was a disappointing end to ERL 2025-26 for R8G Esports.
Quarter-Finals
Blajer continued his form to win the first of two races, while Niklas Houben could hardly have gotten off to a worse start, with issues on lap one resigning him to an 11th-place finish for Team Nitro.
Tobias Gronewald then qualified 11th for his race, putting their fate into other teams’ hands. Visceral Esports were up against it, and certainly knew their fate after Marko Pejic’s crash through turn five, and that would leave the door open for TC Esports to join the other favourites in the Semi-Final.
Semi-Final
BS+ Competition knew that a clean race would be enough to see them go to Maastricht, but had the worst possible start. Nikodem Wisniewski spun to the outside of turn one, while Robbie Stapleford got into contact through the esses that put their fate outside of their hands, too.
Virtus.pro was also looking in danger, though, and that was saving BS+ until Will Chadwick spun during a battle at turn one, and allowed a number of drivers through. This gave Virtus.pro a lifeline, and gave them a spot at Maastricht, along with RAFA ERA, who qualified by making the Semi-Final, and Team Nitro, who could no longer be overtaken after BS+ Competition’s demise.
Final
Williams Sim Racing was the team that could make the difference in the final, knowing that a top two would see them go to Maastricht with Team Nitro, but a third would let BS+ off the hook, and allow them through instead. It started off brilliantly for Williams, as Tobias Pfeffer passed polesitter Daire McCormack on lap one of race one, and created a battle that allowed him to scamper away with race one victory.
Blajer’s fourth-place finish allowed him to start on pole for the next race, solidifying Williams Sim Racing’s position even further. With Coanda Esports, who were heading to a sixth-place overall finish, and Virtus.pro still close, race three was still important.
That was until Charlie Collins had lap one trouble in the final race, and despite a fourth and fifth place finish for Williams, it was still enough to take their first round victory and secure a place in the Esports Racing League Finals in Maastricht 2026.
Each of the four teams will now have to select just two drivers to compete in the Finals, taking place on Marcel Offermans’ new simulator, The Last Garage, in January.